Pedestrian Safety Campaign Launches in Union County

UNION COUNTY, NJ — The county launched its Street Smart NJ pedestrian safety campaign this month at a site where a pedestrian was seriously injured in 2023.

The current campaign, consisting of large educational signs and distribution of safety information throughout the municipality, in schools and through community partners, is aimed at changing unsafe behavior and reducing pedestrian-vehicle crashes at the intersections of West Second Avenue and Chestnut Street and West Second Avenue and Locust Street in Roselle.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE TAPINTO.NET NEWSLETTER

Street Smart NJ is a statewide collaborative effort between public, private and non-profit organizations which is managed by the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA).

More than 240 communities in the state have successfully implemented the campaign, according to a statement from the county.

EZ Ride, which is Union County’s local Transportation Management Association, created the campaign in coordination with county and borough officials.

A pedestrian was struck by a car and severely injured in December 2023 at the crossroads of Chestnut Street and West Second Avenue.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE TAPINTO APP FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS. AVAILABLE IN THE APPLE STORE AND THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE .

Krishna Murthy, the CEO of EZ Ride, cited that incident as a reason for the Street Smart educational efforts.

“Somebody got seriously hurt. That's definitely one of the motivations to get this program going,” Murthy told TAPinto in a phone interview.

Murthy said the program’s goal is to raise awareness of the safety responsibilities that both drivers and pedestrians have.

Although such campaigns focus on specific areas and are time-limited, he said they can lead to more permanent improvements.

“We talk to the municipalities about conducting safety audits and trying to figure out if there are improvements they could make on the infrastructure side and look for funding,” Murthy said. “The idea is to get funding to make those kinds of improvements. Maybe it's a traffic light that’s going to make a difference. Maybe it’s a stop sign.”

County Commissioner chairperson Kimberly Palmieri-Mouded in the county statement said the campaign is “part of a broader set of initiatives to keep our community safer.”

“The work is ongoing and is expected to be complete with a final report by the end of this June,” county spokesperson Kelly Martins said of the program’s timeline.

Martins said the program is funded through multiple sources.

Communities can contact EZ ride about pedestrian safety concerns, and that can lead to future campaigns, according to Murthy.

“We sometimes get a call from the community, so it’s not that we always initiate it,” he said. “Sometimes the community initiates it.”

For more information on Street Smart NJ, people can contact Lisa Lee at 201-939-4242 ext. 123 or LLee@ezride.org.

This story was made possible through a collaboration of TAPinto sites in Union County.

For more local news, visit TAPinto.net