I don't think we need speed bumps. Think about what's going on here. The people running stop signs are fully aware of what they are doing. They are not so distracted that they've forgotten they are off the highway. The speed bump might slow down a few of the maniacs for an instant. But these people are angry at the traffic control devices and angry at the pedestrians. The speed bump is as likely to incite them to drive more dangerously as it is to convince them to obey any traffic laws.

We simply need people to be afraid of the repurcussions of running stop signs downtown. If everyone who ran a stop sign at a speed above the speed limit were arrested and charged with reckless driving, it would send a significant message.

The first step needs to be videotaping cars, and going to city council meetings with documented numbers of cars that run a given stop sign per hour, including how many were going over the speed limit when doing so. The flashing light at 8th an Marin should be particularly dramatic.

I doubt people in Downtown JC really care enough about their family's safety to bother videotaping drivers or going to city council meetings. The reckless drivers know this too.

This might help your argument or discussion with Police and City Hall.

http://www.walkinginfo.org/pedsafe/casestudy.cfm?CS_NUM=58

yep, trees are good, anything that visually narrows the street.

Regarding narrowing intersections (bumpouts), the curbs can be low to allow emergency vehilces and fire trucks to make the turns. Narrowing the intersection provides a physical limitation preventing cars from parking right at the intersection, along with keeping intersections free for emergency vehicles. This is not "rocket science".

The renderings for the streetscape improvements on Newark Ave by the Downtown SID illustrate the potential use of traffic calming. Perhaps, the St. Francis Development could be driver for improvement with two preschools in it along with Cordero, PS 37 and almost 700 students across the street.

We need to be careful, speed bumps (especially the rubber ones in Hoboken) might be the quickest, cheapest fix, but have the downsides of noise and vibrations (also annoying to bicyclists), where as raised intersections or widened sidewalks provide many benefits.



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Fill in the empty tree pits (with trees). Cars drive slower on tree-lined streets.

You should check out the Downtown Jersey City Watch Assoc. they are concerned with crime & safety downtown and meet every month. The next meeting is February 12th at 7:00pm at Grace Church on 2nd & Eire. You can go to the events calendar on this site for more information. The East District always sends a representative to discuss crime and safety issues and you can bring up your speeding concerns directly to the Police. The East District also has some mobile speed signs and you can request one if available. Also our Councilman Steve Fulop attends whenever possible and you may be able to bring up this issue with him as well.

One of the biggest problems with the intersections is actually that the drivers come into them blind due to illegally parked cars. The example given above regarding the Light Horse is a prime example. Ive come close to being hit there close to a dozen times nomatter how careful I try to be.

According to the NJ Drivers Manual, here are the laws regarding parking (page 42):
http://www.state.nj.us/mvc/pdf/Licens ... er%20Manual/Chapter_4.pdf

10 feet from a fire hydrant
25 feet from a cross walk
50 feet from a stop sign

I see these laws voilated daily by literally dozens of cars....which is one of the reasons that it is unsafe to cross at many intersections. It does nothing to address the careless person who just doesnt pay attention when driving through an intersection, but then again they are probably the same people parking illegally.

If people followed those rules many of these problems would be avoided. If the JC PD enforced these rules, everyone would be happier.

I can understand the concern to be honest, but the last thing I want to see is more speed bumps or stoplights. I would agree with the no right turn on red in downtown where you can't always see around parked cars, but would not agree on an across the board law of no right on red.

speed bumps at stop sign intersections sound great, something needs to slow drivers down. i am a runner and run around all over Jersey City, never seem to have any problems when i'm in the heights, but downtown, everyone seems to think they own the road. if they do stop at a stop sign, they don't stop until they are in the middle of the intersection, way past the pedestrian walkway and they certainly don't look the opposite way of traffic for pedestrians. there have been several times where i've had to put my hand out or yell to stop a car, and then they look at me like it's my fault. i always slow down and look both ways before crossing intersections, sometimes drivers look right at me and don't even notice.

Narrowing the streets would certainly cause a problem for fire trucks as well as buses.

I see no reason why speed bumps are not being considered. Safety is of utmost importance and they use speed bumps in historic districts; they make safe historic districts.

I agree with the poster above on eliminating the right on red.

There should be some benefit to not owning a car. It must be safe to walk.

Running 'stop' signs is not exclusive to downtown, as it happens often in the Paulus Hook area, especially at the Lighthorse intersection.

As my son, dog and I enjoy an evening walk, I have resorted to placing a strobe light (Like the one used on bicycles) on the stroller and a collar light for the dog. (Purchased from Canis Minor)
There never seems to be enough street lighting and I have found this bike light on the stroller very effective and draws the attention of the motorist.

This idea might help some when walking in the evening with your children or family pet.

Sound advise. The problems and solutions are not invented in Jersey City....

First step, go the monthly Hamilton Park Neighborhood Association meeting the first Wed of the month.

Raised intersections are an excellant suggestion and they do not cause noise or vibration problems. Also, intersections can be narrowed, creating shorter crossing distances and the visual impact causes drivers to slow.

DCNA committee (mainly Harsimus Cove and Hamilton Park Assocs) started traffic calming efforts and prepared a draft report of problems from a survey and possible solutions. The effort ran out of "gas", also there was no receptiveness at the city level. The draft can be found at www.harsimuscove.org (look in documents).

Speeding, running redlights and stop signs would seem to be a mutually exclusive problem to pedestrians crossing against a light or not crossing at the corner.

One the lesser appreciated benefits of living in the historic districts is the fewer curb cuts for driveways, making it much safer for you children and seniors to walk.



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Actually, I think Manhattan is a lot more managable for pedestrians, because the majority of intersections have traffic lights and, most importantly, NO RIGHT ON RED. I've long thought that Jersey City should do the same thing and make this a city that belongs to pedestrians rather than the automobile. When everyone knows when to stop and when to go, there will be alot less jockeying for the right to go first.

Missa,

Tell me what your conversation has to do with not stopping at stop signs and speeding down streets?

I agree with you that I see a lot of people crossing when the lights, that is lights, not stop signs, allow the traffic to go past you and a pedestrian must wait.

What I am talking about is a stop sign, which , I believe is a constant red to drivers, indicating stop, that is stop at the stop sign, and let people pass across to the other side of the street.

My children are not in strollers now, but i do know what you mean by putting children strollers out there when traffic is coming. It is totally out of the question to do so at green lights and in the middle of streets. But don't forget the dog people and people with carts, or laundry, I have seen them stick it out there for traffic to stop. Dog people give you that face as well.

Speed bumps slow traffic which enables better decision making by both parties. Right now cars are turning the corner on Jersey and 7th and hitting the gas to get to the corner of Erie and 7th as quickly as possible. They are hitting the break a couple of houses from the corner. The speed has to go from 40-0 in a second. Its scary. Let me throw ice, rain, snow, and your more than occasional drunk driver on a Friday or Saturday night into the mix, as well as a street lamp on th corner which hasn't been lit since 2005, another thing the city should know, and someone should fix, and you have a bad situation.

I peek out out with my children on the sidewalk and I see a car that is moving above the speed limit, and coming to the corner at a rapid pace. then they suddenly slow down, and stop, and I start to walk across the street and they act like I just got there and start to move across the stop sign to look down Erie for more speeding cars. Its a nightmare!

Simply- slower driving promotes a less dangerous opportunity for both driver and pedestrians at a stop sign. Speed bumps help this = less kids, dogs, laundry baskets get run over.

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Exactly. The police are always there and often Steve Fulop. The next meeting is next Wed the 7th. Several traffic signs in the neighborhood are the result of HPNA action.

Speed bumps have been controversial because of the noise and potential vibration damage to nearby older buildings.I

Personally, I think red light cameras should be privatized. A split of revenue between city and vendor, no points for the driver so positive driver ID isn't an issue, and everyone but the scoflaw is a winner as they proliferate. This works for gridlock too, if you're in the intersection when it's red.....

yup. lots of pedestrians walk right into oncoming traffic against their signals.

actually, when you think about it, people blowing red lights is a lot less common than people deciding to cross against their signals and then making that "i am a pedestrian you should stop for me" face.

Count me as one of the people who think you are old and cranky. How bout you try looking both ways before crossing the street. I've never seen anyone drive on the sidewalk - you should be safe there. If you think JC is bad, you must be terrified in Manhattan.

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If a person has the balls to sell drugs in front of a police station, why would a person driving a car care about the laws of traffic if there wasn't an actual JCP officer directing it.

Perhaps you could attend the next Hamilton Park meeting and see if , as a group, you can come up with some suggestions to give to our council.

Also, you could question why the JCPD allocate multiple cars to the BJ's parking lot to monitor a closed off one way street. You would think that these resources could be better utilized monitoring troubled streets. Not only would this bring in revenue, it would also send a message that the heaviest used streets are being watched.

in general, i have no problem obeying traffic laws and looking out for pedestrians.

what i do have a problem with is the growing number of parents who think its okay to use their baby stroller as a traffic director by pushing it out into the crosswalk, or worse the middle of the street.

if you use your child as a battering ram for a few tons of steel, you probably shouldn have one...

7th and Erie? By the police station? If you can't get people to observe traffic laws there, it ain't gonna happen.

Today as I was sitting in traffic on 8th and Erie anxiously waiting to get to work - The two way stop before it becames a Quagmire at PS#37. I was thinking how screwed up our system has become. 2007 and we still have problems yielding to pedestrians, surprised that none of those little traffic guards on the corners haven't been hit to this day. That is the same guard on 9th & Erie that was there when I graduated from that school.

Thank you all for posting your concerns about this - sometimes I think I am just getting cranky in my old age, so it is nice to see that others share my concerns.

One of the things I often notice is that drivers at stop signs at one way streets only look in the direction of on coming traffic and "forget" that pedestrians might be crossing the road. I would like to see the words "look both ways for pedestrians" or something similar stenciled under the word STOP on stop signs.

Geez, if I had a nickel for each time I witnessed a driver beat a red light IN FRONT OF A JCPD officer, I'd have half the City Council in my back pocket by now.

Unfortunately it will take a death of someone important or is a news report, before anyone from cityhall lifts their lazy ass to look at the issue.
This issue has been a problem around my area for years and kids have been hit. If you get anywhere with those bumps, stick them on all neighborhood intersections that local traffic use.

I would love to see enforcement of speeding and the running of red lights on Newark Avenue -- it is a free for all at Brunswick at the bottom of the hill -- even NJ Transit buses run the red light.

I think downtown should make it hard for people who want to cut through to the Holland Tunnel or for those who want to drop people off at the downtown PATH stops -- Rush Hour should not be a free for all. We need to enforce red lights and add more stop signs -- downtown should not be easy to cut through -- it is unsafe to walk around and we live here!

There is a 'raised intersection' speed reducing mound that can be built. It is similar to an extended 4 way speed bump, especially designed for neighborhood intersections.
They are the cheapest form of speed restriction and once built are basically maintenance free.

I'd email all the neighborhood groups in JC with your concerns and arrange a rep. from each to attend a discussion group and lobby the Council. My understanding is that you have a 'mechanism' that does that already.

If you google 'raised intersection' you will see what I mean. PS, Good luck with your endeavor!

I know how bad these intersections are. 9th and Erie is the worst. I'm amazed that drivers are willing to run a stop sign at double the speed limit, even with a pedestrian with a stroller in the crosswalk.

The intersection at 8th (I think, by the firehouse) and Marin is insane. At 11pm the light changes to flashing red, and nobody stops.

Anyone who cares to change this needs to take video of this outrageous behavior. I have never seen someone with a video camera on one of these corners. This leads me to believe that no one -really- cares.

This is my first post. I am a lifetime Jersey City resident, and I live on 7th and Erie. I have two children, 3 and 5, and there are 10-12 children on my block, between Erie and Jersey, under age 8. I have lived here since 2000. I am completely fed up with the lack of anyone in government concerned with the speed of cars on our streets, the fact that we almost get hit or have cars come at us at high speeds,and blowing through stop signs. It is beyond ridiculous. I am willing to do anything possible, and need concerned citizens help to organize a group to make our govt officials aware in a big way that this is unacceptable. Enough is enough, we almost got hit this morning. I have contacted some officials, but it seems like they are giving no effort to rectify this. It is time we step up before someone gets killed. Speed bumps, camera's anything, please. I even asked for a cop on the corner, to no avail. I can't beleive that no one is concerned in our local govt about this. It is pathetic.