All idiosyncracies aside, any establishment whose employees will try to pull my ass from a burning vehicle is deserving of my business.

At one time or another, if you drive here in JC, you have stopped for a red light at this intersection. At one time or another, we have walked on that sidewalk. This is so heartbreaking and hits way to close to home.

To the victims, their family and friends, you are in my prayers.

To the people from Taqueria and everyone else who tried to help the victims...I thank you for being so caring and brave.

To those who witnessed this horrific scene, you are in my prayers.

To my "friends" who tell me I am a party pooper because I will not drink and drive....I?m glad I?m me and not you.

That stretch of Grand street must have been designed by complete morons. Have the planning department or whoever are responsible actually driven down Grand street and seen how it works?

You are driving along and suddenly, with few signs or warning, the outer lane turns into a left turn only lane and you find yourself driving head on into oncoming traffic.

Then a little further on, the road, again with no warning, veers wildly to the left.

Then again, the outer lane, after making a brief reappearance long enough for traffic to return to speeding in that lane, suddenly dissapears again to become a left turn lane.

Then outside the Boys and Girls' club there is a lamp-post, with street crossing button and sign attached, sitting in the middle of the driveway. Not on the sidewalk, but just stranded there in the middle of the Boys and Girls' Club driveway.

Robin.

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Kudos indeed for the valiant effort of the employees to pull this poor soul out of the burning wreck.

I've noticed an unmarked police car pulling drivers over regularly around that trangle where Jersey/Newark/1st St intersect.

That's a start JCPD; but how about going after the real low hanging fruit: maniacs that speed on Erie, C Columbus, Grand and Jersey Ave. It's such a no brainer, but team Healy just couldn't have things slowed down for the precious Manhattan and Exchange Place commuters...

I just don't think people like Herman Chandler are sensitive to deterrent strategies. We're taking about a man who did time for disarming a cop (I looked it up). We're talking about a man who, while intoxicated, blew through a red light in a residential area at high speed, killed two people and proceeded to leave the scene of the "accident".

That said, I appreciate the spirit of your post...this tragedy aside, the driving culture here is dangerous and people need to be reigned in.

I know cameras are controversial, but some speeding cams on these roads would do a world of good. You know this ass, as well as many others, sped all the time and knew the odds of getting stopped by the JCPD were miniscule. A camera system is on watch 24/7, and can give a flood of speeding tickets. While there are systems that photo the driver for positive ID and a real moving violation, I would think making them $100+ no point fines on the vehicle like a parking ticket or the red light cams would get the deterrent, without as many people taking it to court to try and save their licenses and insurance.

A cop: ~$400k/yr for 24 hr coverage even if they were available for permanent assignment to speeding.

Cameras:$0 cost, it's a franchise the city awards and the vendor gets a % of the take. And they can give far more tickets than any cop.

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Plus 14B is a lot cheaper of a toll than 14C. Not sure raising that toll would help. Probably not and would be unfair to JC citizens.

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Prime Holland Tunnel shortcut route. Exit 14B > Pacific > Grand > Marin > Tunnel.

Also, I'm going to take a crazy crazy guess and say the driver was not employed at GS.

Go Taqueria

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... _employees_tried_pul.html

I don't understand all this speeding going east on Grand Street. Are they all late for work at Goldman Sachs?

A few years ago someone crashed into the park at Washington and Grand.

And the pedestrian crossing lights are awful. If no one pushes the button, the light won't change. It stays red. And 99% of the people don't push the button.

Ahh, Grand Street. Glad the city turned that into a 4 lane speedway.

Not serious solution: release hundreds of deer. Ever see a car hit one or a buck? The vehicle doesnt win.

Seriously though this is a policing issue. Ive seen police pull people over for traffic violations. From turning the wrong way to merging to close to the person in back of them. There needs to be more patrols.

Pray for the families of the victims. Very sad. Herman Chandler on the other hand should be used as a speed bump on Grand St.

May Herman Chandler rot in hell for eternity.

Article now in Star-Ledger, identifying victims and perp.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012 ... ed_in_jersey_city_af.html

absolutely horrible and no surprise to anyone who walks around downtown JC. Drivers are horrible and JC encourages their bad driving with wider roads, no speed bumps, too few lights/signs, etc. Now several innovent people died because the city refuses to address a situation that any 4th grader could easily identify.

They at least put up a 4 way stop sign last week at the intersection of 10th and Coles. Another very popular accident area.

Fulop, I know your up against a moron brigade when it comes to car traffic policy but this has to be used to the fullest extent possible to shame said morons into agreeing to make this area more pedestrian/safe driver friendly...

My wife was hit by a car that was stopped at a stop sign with a pedestrian crosswalk a few weeks ago. She thanked the car for stopping (because in this city you expect them to stop and roll) and next thing you know she is on the windshield of his car. He was looking fiercely to the right to gun it across the one way street and never saw her coming from the left, or her acknowledgement of him. She hit the front, moved her body so she could roll on to his windshield, rolled off, hit his window with her hands as he gunned it out of there and he THEN saw her as he slowed down to see what the fuss was about. He stopped, waved sorry and sped off. If she wasn't in shape she wouldn't have had the strength to move up and over, instead she would have been under. Still, one more foot over and she would have be UNDER his car regardless. People witnessed this and NO ONE HELPED. She picked herself up and kept walking, uninjured. This happened in Hoboken at Bloomfield and First.

She was most shaken by the fact no one even asked if she was okay or that the motorist didn't exit his vehicle to check on her. She didn't get his license plate because he sped off too quickly. Yes this can happen anywhere, but the reality of it is, it happens way more here. The odds are great we'll all have this situation happen in this city eventually. What we decided in this situation is that it's time to move. And move we will.

This is horrible and really scary. I drive on that part of Grand Street every day at least two times a day. Whenever we have to cross Grand Street to walk to the park or whatever, I am always so afraid someone is going to mow us down.

I live on Grove between York and Grand and saw the aftermath when I arrived home last night. I realize things like this happen all too frequently, but because it occurred so close to my home, I'm especially shaken in this instance.

I think some of the analysis written in earlier posts is spot-on, and there are many things that can be done to improve safety on this stretch of road.

All of that said, the driver of the SUV was clearly acting in such a way that no reasonable amount of enforcement or traffic-calming measures likely would have helped. Perhaps speedbumps would have prevented this, but by that logic, there is no single stretch of road in JC that shouldn't have them.

[rant[It's a disturbing fact of life, but we are surrounded by mentally unstable people who don't think the rules apply to them. I regularly see people take left turns in front of oncoming traffic (you know, right at the moment when the light turns green), even when they would have only had to wait for one or two cars to pass. I see people texting in their cars all the time. Parking in front of crosswalks...whatever, you get the idea. The car culture in this city (state, country) is totally #OOPS#ed up. Pro-tip: if you ever kill a bicyclist with your car, just say you didn't see him/her...you'll be off the hook and people will feel sorry for you for the psychological trauma you suffered. The car culture here is such that you're basically allowed to hit things/people with your car, provided you assert that you didn't see them. People are so #OOPS#ing aggressive and selfish while commanding their two-ton vehicles. Absolutely no respect for how the profound kinetic energy at their fingertips can erase human life.[/rant]

Here's what Newark is trying to do to address dangerous crossings at Broad Street.

http://pbsvideo.njn.net/video/2183288216

Ugh, awful. Imagine walking down the street and having your life end, just like that. Or sitting in the back of a cab, and suddenly you are engulfed in flames within seconds, fighting for your life. It really makes you think.

Crossing both Grand Street and Columbus as a pedestrian is a treacherous task. I HATE how both roads have been widened. It is incredibly dangerous. The "walk" signs/green lights crossing these streets are far and few between. And what is the deal with crossing Columbus at Grove Street? The walk sign is almost never on, you just have to look both ways and make a run for it.

It's shameful, and it's a REAL shame that 2 lives have been lost. How many more innocent lives will be lost until the imbeciles in the planning department wake up? Seriously.

It was an absolutely horrible scene. I pulled up minutes after it happened. The road itself was burning from the skid of the cars. The bystanders that tried to help deserve a lot of praise. The cab was completely engolfed in flames and yet they risked their own lives to try and pull the passengers out of the car.
It took a long time for JCFD to show up. Yes, they are two blocks away but when I passed, the fire engine was not there. It must have been out on another call.
This irresponsible driving has to stop.

Woodstock: you're probably right. I made the assumption based on the CNN video that someone posted. When I first looked at the video, it appeared that the offending SUV in the foreground had more damage on the driver's side than the passenger side. But now that I look at it again, it looks pretty head on.

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+1

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Denibleu.... You assumption about the impact is wrong. It was a direct front end to back end hit. The SUV was probably going 70+ mph, the cab actually appeared to be going the speed limit. I have this from one of the few people who witnessed the accident . The SUV then careened out of control down grand street crashing into several poles, hence the damage.

Horrible.

My fiance works on Grand St, and told me about this on her way home last night. I will keep the victims in my prayers.

So it was the passenger of the cab and a pedestrian that was killed? Driver of the SUV, was he drunk, or just stupid?

I read somewhere that it took some time before JCFD and paramedics arrived on the scene. Can any eye witnesses attest to that? Being that both JCFD and the hospital are on Grand St, one would think they'd get there pretty quick.

It is every man and woman for themselves on Grand. Drivers just do not give a sh#t. Short of having speed bumps at every intersection, they will continue to not give a sh#t. They should have left the craters in the road.

Having really wide streets with multiple lanes is a recipe for disaster. Reminds me of Hylan Blvd in Staten Island. Accident after accident....death after death. Millions and millions of dollars spent trying to resolve the issues...meanwhile the only true resolution is keeping speeds down.

Same problem with Grand as well as Columbus. Speed is the problem. Poorly designed traffic patterns and poorly placed signs can be managed easily if people drove slower.

As for this accident, anyone who was involved with the planning, design and construction of these roads in their current state as well as anyone who could have made Grand St. a more safely designed street should be prosecuted for manslaughter.

If you are driving fast enough to cause another car to burst into flames and be propelled several feet and you still cannot get control of your own car then you deserve to be shot there on the spot. The speed limit should be 20mph on every residential street. I have said it before that it was going to take "horrible death" before the city does anything. Now I suppose we will see that stupid flashing 25mph sign posted on that corner for a few weeks. The cops have stepped up enforcement at times on Marin Blvd near the Tunnel but we need a city wide effort to make OUR streets safe again. Columbus and Grand have become like suburban freeways and it's out of control.
BTW, to some of you other posters, if the car behind you can't handle you driving the speed limit then F*** them. They can just calm down and wait a bit.