alls i know is, people had better learn what stop signs mean quickly so we can get this thing out of here. this big expensive reminder takes away one street parking space.

There is now a speed monitoring sign from the police department at Coles and 8th Street...again, I guess this is a temporary fix to the problem.

At least there is a temporary speed monitoring contraption at Manila and 8th street...maybe they'll catch on and put them elsewhere.

Quote: Write down the bus' serial number, location, time and date of incident and either call 1-800-772-2222 or go to the Complaints/Commendations section of njtransit.com. Complaining on JCList about buses will not help you and will only make my headache worse.

NJ transit busses are the worst; you're legally supposed to yield to the (a BS law) but that doesn't mean they should be allowed to drive like jerks.

Yeah I noticed that too. I once parked with the back of my trunk touching a little warn red area by the corner (not even by a stop sign) and I got a goddamn ticket. My car wasn't even possibly hurting anything.

NJ State Law prohibits parking in the following areas:

* Within 25 feet of a crosswalk
* Within an intersection
* Within 50 feet of a stop sign
* Within 10 feet of a fire hydrant

The 50 feet in front of the stop sign really gets me.. anyone else notice how egregiously this is ignored by both drivers and the JCPD? People on my block park right up to the stop sign every single day.. nobody ever gets a ticket.

We need signs around town that state:

Cars must stop for pedestrians in the crosswalks or X$ fine.

No honking of horns or X$ Fine X$.

We need more stop signs so streets can't be used as highways.

Maybe more 4 way stops would slow things down.

Yes! longer red no-parking zones on problem corners.

And what we really need is a morning and evening "rush hour" crack down on people who run stop lights and stop signs. They could get 6 drivers every 4 minutes at Newark Avenue and Brunswick.

We have all been to Paulus Hook and they make it a nightmare to drive in that area -- all the streets go no where and everything is timed to slow all traffic.

The rest of downtown needs some of this planning -- it should in fact have much more than Paulus Hook because that is a dead end area anyway -- not like downtown that can be used by all the yahoos cutting through to get to the Holland Tunnel.

I would have to agree with GWB on this one. I really think that cars are allowed to park too close to the intersection which completely blocks any view of oncoming traffic. You then need to creep out and basically turn while looking in the opposite direction of where you are going for fear that a car is coming very quickly the other way.

A very good example is the corner of 7th and Erie, right in front of Isabellas. Last week, I came to a complete stop before the intersection. I then proceeded to turn left onto Erie but I had to look to my right as I slowly started to turn. While I was doing this, a women started to cross Erie on my left so I didn't see her because I was worried about traffic coming down Erie. They just put in a "No parking" sign with an arrow but people park there anyway.

With that being said, I have also been honked at while stepping into a crosswalk while the oncoming car was still 25 feet away.

can't we ask the Police Captain on 7th street to issue some tickets - we'll probably balance the budget...

i don't have to walk through that intersection to get to work (erie and 8th), but on weekends i frequently drive through it. i often wind up shouting at the other cars?the ones in front of me who roll on through w/o stopping, and the ones in the other side of the intersection who also roll on through. it's dangerous for everyone?cars, pedestrians. and doesn't anyone worry about tickets?

there is also a similar problem at erie & 4th. i have counted at least three crashes in that intersection this summer, all a result of someone on 4th blowing through the stop sign and colliding w/ a car proceeding down erie.

more 2-way stops are definitely necessary along erie, but i'd be all for the speedbump solution too.

I go back to the Hoboken example. The speed bumps there seemly fairly innoucuous and they're all over town.

Speed bumps are a big pain in the butt for snow plows.

Why not erect 'speed humps' in neighborhoods roads?

It would force speeding vehicles to slow down when approaching intersections - these could be installed in neighborhood areas where the minimum speed is required and not on major or secondary roadways.

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agreed. their enforcement of this particular parking violation is inconsistent at best. they rely on people using the faded red paint on the curbs as a marker, when they could easily install "no parking from here to corner" signs.

in general their seems to be a genuine and astounding contempt for pedestrians around here. must be a jersey thing. when i'm behind the wheel i always yield to pedestrians.

add the intersection of newark and erie to the list too...

hoboken has the right idea....but when i've stopped for pedestrians there...i've gotten the angry horn honk from the idiot behind me.....

insane

2nd St, East of Washington is becoming busier now as well. People drive down the road going 40-50 MPH!

The street, with 3 apartment/condo complexes on it has about 15 "Permit Parking Only" signs, but not one Speed Limit sign! Speed bumps would help a lot here; if the city doesn't one permanent ones, it can install the temporary, portable ones used in Hoboken.

What do the residents have to do to get some representation here?? Go to Fulup? Obviousy, going to the police doesn't help.

I propose each one of us should videotape these traffic violations and send the tapes to the media.

Embarassment goes a long way in shaming people into action.

In the main I agree with all the remediations suggested here. I find that cars sprinting across Jersey Avenue without even looking is also a major problem.

I would also offer another suggestion: Start enforcing, regularly, regulations regarding parking too close to an intersection. Very, very often I come up to an intersection & am forced to creep-creep-creep out into the middle of the street (blocking the crosswalk, of course) and then hammer the gas to get across because by the time I've verified no traffic, I'm in the middle of the street.

More times than not the vehicles parked on these corners are a) boxtrucks making deliveries or b) SUV's and vans. It is IMPOSSIBLE to see if anyone is coming, and frankly makes a rolling stop SAFER because it minimizes your time in the intersection.

A perfect example is the corner of 8th & Erie- People park right on the corner, on the left hand side and the right, as well as on the left-hand side of 8th on the opposite side from Basic- I can't see if someone is waiting at the stopsign on 8th, and as I creep forward, too often a pedestrian steps from behind a vehicle parked on the corner where I couldn't see them and is mortified to find my bumper there.

I take these intersections S L O W L Y, but the fact remains that any motorist is confronted with two potential jack-in-the-box encounters, one with a pedestrian and one with another car, simply because someone decided to park too close to the intersection.


GWB

What about placing traffic cameras at a few of the more egregious corners. The city could clean up in fines.

Over the weekend we were in Western MA -- Northhampton and Amherst looking at schools. We noticed the local custom of obeying traffic laws. At crosswalks, when a pedestrian steps off the curb into the street, cars slow down, and STOP, and proceed once the pedestrian has made it to the other side! We were startled, amazed and delighted. At first we thought it was a fluke, but then noticed that all drivers followed the same routine. NJ has the same laws, but in Hudson County they are not followed.

Try stepping into a crosswalk in JC or Hoboken expecting cars to yield, and risk ending up at the JC Medical Center.

Welcome to the growing chorus of citizens of JC who are trying to get CITY HALL to pick up ths issue. The lives of citizens are more important to US than any real estate deals...The CITY needs to take the lead on this.I have written about the hazards of Newark Ave. on this board (before and after a woman was killed there)
I have written to the Mayors (past and present), the Police dept) Councilmen, the state, etc.

Any area that leads to a tunnel or highway or the waterfront is a hazard to the people who actually live and pay taxes here. Everyone is getting tired of the "it's the county", "it's the state", "it's the state transportation dept" it's anything but our job...
Hamilton Park and Newark Avenue are only 2 examples of what has become a big problem for the residents of JC.
I suggest a blitz of tickets and license points on these drivers who ignore stops signs, pedestrian crossings, speed limits.
I believe the fine for a moving violation is quite high and needs to go back into the city budget for fixing streets, adding lights and if the state must do some of this this money must be used to push them into doing it . NJ is one of the worst states for pedestrians...

I did see something recently that there was an initiative for making our streets safer. The number one group of victims of dangerous drivers? School children. I think the program might have been called Safe Streets or something like that -- here's the city's chance to
get on board with the state and bring that program here. IF anyone has info on this program please contact me. Thanks.

I'd suggest finding out how Hoboken went about implementing speed bumps at many intersections and put up prominent yield to pedestrian signs. I have to think that cut down drastically on the number of accidents. It used to be a free for all before that, not unlike it is downtown JC now. It's too expensive to have a patrol car sit at these corners and it's not a long term solution.

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Ditto re: 8th and Erie. That corner is the worst. I always feel that I have to negotiate the right to cross the street so I don't get hit by an oncoming car. If an approaching car is coming too close to the intersection without stopping, I step out partially onto the street and hold out my hand as a stop sign to make sure that they are aware I'm there and I don't end up as roadkill.

cars blow through stop signs or roll halfway into the street before stopping all along jersey ave, as well.

all they need is a strategically positioned patrol car and start giving out tickets. that will teach the offenders a lesson, AND hopefully change their driving behavior.

such an easy thing to do, right? just have the police POLICE the area.

have you tried calling the mayor's action bureau? ask for mike. he is pretty helpful and actually sounds like he CARES what you are saying.

I agree completely....cars almost never stop at the stop sign at Coles and Pavonia. And I've had cars honk at me at the intersection by Basic (8th and Erie) like I was in their way! It's ridiculous.

At least 6 or 10 cars run the red light at Newark and Brunswick at any given time -- NJTransit buses too! It's nuts!

I too have complained -- there needs to be a camera.

I also wish they would PAVE Newark Avenue!

God it feels so good to get this off my chest!

I agree I bike home everyday and this intersection is the most dangerous by far. Driving through it coming up 8th is also a problem. It is a terrible intersection.

There is a complete disregard of traffic symbols by motorist. Pedestrians are not given the right of way at all, but in fact are treated like inconvenient annoyances.

Each morning and night, on the way to and from Manhattan along 8th Street (specifically at Erie and Coles) cars just blow right through the stops signs...not decelerate into a rolling stop, but as if there are not stop signs there at all.

I have seen and had the experience of cars honking at you because you are in the middle of the intersection trying to cross and because the cars don't feel like stoping, you are now holding them back. I've been ready to step out into the intersection at Coles and 8th because the car 30ft away approaching the intersection "should" come to a stop, but have had to jump back onto the corner because that car has no intention on stopping. The disturbing thing is that there is a school right after that stop sign. I've witnessed pedestrians in the Hamilton Park neighborhood yelling at cars that zip through the stop signs and rush them to the other side of the street, and the drivers look at you annoyed that you made them slow down. Just last night I saw a guy walking his dog around 8:15pm at Coles and Pavonia yell at a Jeep Liberty that blew right through that intersection and the person driving just looked at the guy like what's your problem.

I have called and emailed the Mayors office a couple times now and talked to a woman named Judy who said that a speed bump would be an option but she had to find out from the Dept of Transportation. Or a traffic camera. That was a month ago and nothing really has happened. If anyone else had noticed this problem in the neighborhood or experienced it please email Judy at MayorHealy@jcnj.org or call at 201-547-4597 or 201-547-4900.