The New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety has awarded the Burlington County Sheriff’s Department $70,000 to conduct pedestrian safety enforcement operations throughout the county.
“We will be working with local police departments to target areas where both pedestrians and drivers are not following the law,” Sheriff Jean Stanfield said. Sheriff’s Officers and municipal police officers will work together to conduct 30 operations between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014.
In 2012, Burlington County had 11 pedestrian deaths, after averaging 5.6 pedestrian deaths for the prior three years. Many of the pedestrian deaths occur along the 23 miles of Route 130 that runs through the county. In 2012 six pedestrians died along this portion of the highway, with three pedestrian fatalities in Delran Township and one each in Willingboro, Florence and Burlington City. So far during 2013 there has been one fatal crash on Route 130.
The Pedestrian Enforcement Grant will involve officers acting undercover as decoys using the crosswalks. Violators will be issued warnings and tickets as part of this project to draw awareness to pedestrian laws. The Sheriff’s Department is also administering another grant, dubbed Operation 130 Safe Passage, for traffic enforcement specifically along the Route 130 Corridor.
For the fifth year in a row, the portion of the Route 130 corridor that passes through Burlington County has been designated as the most dangerous roadway in the state for pedestrians by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.
“In addition to the Route 130 corridor, we are concerned about pedestrian crashes all throughout our county. Between 2007 and 2011 we had a total of 637 pedestrian crashes with 555 pedestrian injuries and 39 fatalities,” Stanfield said. Between 2009 and the first quarter of 2013, many communities have already had 20 or more pedestrian involved crashes, as shown below:
Burlington City 24
Burlington Township 22
Delran Township 24
Evesham Township 33
Lumberton Twp. 20
Maple Shade Twp. 22
Moorestown Twp. 25
Mount Holly Twp. 20
Mount Laurel Twp. 40
Pemberton Twp. 27
Willingboro Twp. 26
So far in 2013 there have been four crashes in Burlington County involving pedestrians, two of them fatal.
A fine of $200 (plus court costs) can be imposed for failure to yield to pedestrians and the driver can also be sentenced to community service. In the event a pedestrian is struck by a vehicle and seriously injured, fines can be increased up to $500 and the driver can be sentenced to up to 25 days in jail.
