I would like to thank the driver for not hitting me as I used the crosswalk on Wallace Road by the Princeton Junction station. After all, it’s such an imposition to have to stop for a wheelchair. Far better just to swerve around somebody, even if it means going into the other lane.
I’m so glad you were able to make your train: it really would have been terribly inconvenient had you hit me or the police stopped you and you’d have missed it. I’d also like to thank not one but two drivers at the Alexander Road crosswalk by Scott Avenue for showing me and the drivers coming in the other direction who had already stopped that it’s possible to squeeze by a pedestrian on a crosswalk without actually hitting them.
The new crosswalk law, New Jersey Statute 39:4-36 (which became law on April 1, 2010), says that: “The driver of a vehicle must stop and stay stopped for a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk …” The penalty for failing to observe the law may be one or more of two points, $200 fine, 15 days community service, and insurance surcharges.
Pedestrians also have obligations: “no pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close that it is impossible for the driver to yield.” There are far too many vehicle accidents involving pedestrians in New Jersey. This law is an attempt to reduce the number of them. Please obey it.
Michael Ogg
Trustee, West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance
