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BY JOHN SNYDER
OF PASCACK PRESS
WESTWOOD, N.J. — Already working to raise awareness and step up enforcement around the rules of the road for pedestrian safety following a rash of accidents, officials learned last week that another pedestrian was hit on a borough street.
On Feb. 21 at 12:08 p.m. the Westwood Police Department received a report of an accident involving a pedestrian, a 79-year-old Westwood woman, at the intersection of Kinderkamack Road and Irvington Street.
An investigation found that the vehicle, driven by a 76-year-old woman from Midland Park, was turning left from Irvington Street to head north on Kinderkamack Road.
The pedestrian had already partially crossed the roadway. She passed over the centerline of the roadway into the southbound lane of travel.
Police said the vehicle, which turned north, failed to yield the right of way to the pedestrian, entered the southbound lane of the roadway, and struck the pedestrian with the front driver side of the vehicle.
The pedestrian was knocked to the ground, where she sustained unknown injuries to her lower body. She was treated, stabilized, and taken to Valley Hospital in Ridgewood.
Westwood police charged the driver with failure to stop/yield at an intersection, making an improper turn, failure to maintain lane, and failure to yield to a pedestrian.
Police Lt. Matthew McClutchy said the department will submit to the New Jersey Division of Motor Vehicles a driver re-evaluation form for the driver to determine her fitness for operating a motor vehicle.
Responding units included Westwood Police Department, Hillsdale Police Department, Westwood Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and Micom Advanced Life Support.
The Westwood Police Department is seeking the cooperation of the community in reducing the number of pedestrian- and bicyclist-involved accidents in town.
“We ask for all drivers, pedestrians or bicyclists to use courtesy, diligence, patience, and attention while traveling in the area as we work to improve the safety to all who visit here,” McClutchy said in announcing the results of the investigation.
Susie Hon, 77, a Westwood House resident, died at the hospital the evening of Feb. 6 after she was struck that morning crossing Broadway at Irvington Street.
The driver in that incident, an 86-year-old woman from River Vale, was issued a summons for careless driving.
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Pedestrian Safety Task Force brings in agencies to help
The borough’s Pedestrian Safety Task Force has been studying similar incidents in the municipality, which its chief, Council President Chris Montana, told Pascack Press are up significantly in the past year and half in an ongoing analysis, which includes the ages of those involved.
The task force pools the expertise of residents, the police department, and the borough engineer.
Montana said a Feb. 9 high-level meeting coordinated by Police Sgt. Mike Pontillo included William Yarzab and Melissa Hayes from the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, which coordinates the Street Smart NJ pedestrian safety campaign; Matt Pitrus from EZ Ride, which arranges carpools, vanpools, shuttles, transportation for older adults and people with disabilities; and Eugene Murphy from the county’s Planning and Engineering department.
Pontillo also has submitted a wish list of recommendations, including encouraging seniors to send out for groceries, taking large trucks off some roads, and slowing traffic downtown.
[For more, see “Pedestrian Safety a Priority: Police Offer Ideas,” Feb. 19, Page 1.]
“All we can do is make sure the environment is as safe as possible without distracting anybody. After that, the responsibility really comes down to the driver and pedestrian. I can’t stress that enough. It’s really up to them to do whatever they can to stay as safe as possible,” Montana said.
Montana said the three agencies, having dealt with similar challenges at many New Jersey municipalities, “understand our issues and concerns and will be submitting recommendations” to the Westwood Police Department and the task force for:
- Stepped up outreach at the Thomas J. Riley Senior Center, Westwood House, Westwood Senior Fellowship meetings, churches, synagogues, and the schools.
- Collateral, including print, banners, and digital resources, to reinforce the town’s message to drivers and pedestrians.
- Possible infrastructure changes and traffic studies to build on what’s being tried now.
The task force was formed in June 2017 in response to spring incidents in which three female pedestrians, one pregnant, were struck down at Westwood and Center, and another in which a pedestrian was seriously injured after being struck by a vehicle driven by an elderly motorist outside Westwood Cemetery on Kinderkamack Road.
A 30-year-old borough woman was run over at Center and Westwood avenues by a borough man, 76, driving a pickup truck the late afternoon of Dec. 18, 2017.
The driver was issued four summonses.
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Public should see changes made; additional crossing guards on the way
Montana noted the Westwood Police Department and Department of Public Works have already rolled out:
- Additional road signage at the approaches to the central business district to create awareness of pedestrian crossings and the law.
- Four digital billboards at the edges of the central business district to create awareness of pedestrian crossings and the law.
- A lighting improvement plan at major intersections. High- intensity and efficient LED lights were installed at Park and Third. “The difference is literally night and day. Results and community input will be analyzed,” Montana said. Similar lighting improvements are planned for intersections of Center and Westwood, Fairview and Westwood, “and other high nighttime crossings.”
- The installation of a pedestrian crossing flag program developed by two Westwood Girl Scouts at four heavy pedestrian crossing locations.
- A police pedestrian decoy enforcement initiative. On Feb. 16 and 17, this initiative yielded four summonses for not stopping for pedestrians in the crosswalks and three summons for cell phone use.
- Several verbal warnings have been issued to pedestrians crossing outside of designated areas.
- Distribution of public service announcements on social media and in church announcements and community programs.
Meanwhile, the borough’s 2018 budget is awaiting approval for:
- Spending on new crossing guards at Center and Westwood Avenue to coincide with busy vehicle and pedestrian traffic, and a new crossing guard at the southwest corner of Washington Avenue and Broadway to coincide with school dismissal.
- Two or three electronic speed notification signs designed to slow vehicles as they enter the CBD and school zones.
— Editor’s note: This story was updated Feb. 28 to properly identify the agency William Yarzab and Melissa Hayes work for.