Motorists must watch out for pedestrians, or Montclair police will watch out for the drivers who don’t.
Montclair teems with reckless motorists.
Lawbreaking drivers speed on our town’s residential streets, tailgating vehicles that are moving at "only" five or seven miles above the speed limit.
Some bad drivers continue to operate their tons of moving vehicles while chatting on their handheld cell phones. There are plenty of motorists who don’t use their turn signals when pulling over to, or away from, the curb, or when turning onto another roadway.
Did the drivers’ ed teachers in high school collectively overlook some of our state’s motor vehicle rules? Is unlawful driving one example of many arrogant citizens’ stance that "the rules don’t matter to me"?
Earlier this summer, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office teamed up with the Montclair Police Department in a "Cops in the Crosswalks" program to nab drivers who failed to halt when pedestrians attempted to cross the roadway using a crosswalk.
As The Times has reported, more than 800 motorists got stopped and nailed with expensive tickets.
Some drivers hit with a costly penalty view the program as a sting. They are correct.
What’s equally accurate is that, with perhaps rare exceptions, the drivers were ticketed for ignoring the rights of pedestrians who attempted to traverse a crosswalk-delineated street.
Throughout our society today, proactive advice is ignored. "Don’t speed." "Stop for pedestrians." "Use turn signals." "Turn on the headlights when it’s raining." "Halt the car at stop signs." "Don’t hold a cell-phone while driving."
When drivers commit violations that threaten the safety of other people, then law enforcement is empowered to act.
The 800-plus tickets issued this summer are evidence that the police and Prosecutor’s Office acted with diligence.
With the new school year’s start this week, the police may place emphasis in and near Montclair’s four secondary schools: Montclair High School, Immaculate Conception, The Montclair Kimberley Academy and Lacordaire Academy. Officers intend to conduct sessions in the schools focusing on driver safety awareness to the age-appropriate young drivers.
This is a great way for young people to meet local officers in proactive, friendly, educational discussions, rather than confronting law enforcement officials following an accident or getting stopped for careless driving.
Police also intend to increase enforcement on the streets around local public and private schools, cracking down on students who conduct reckless or inappropriate driving.
This crackdown will target parents along with students who incompetently operate or wrongfully park their vehicles near any of our town’s public or private schools.
It’s also important for pedestrians to use crosswalks. In upcoming months, police may single out pedestrians who jaywalk across lanes of traffic, disregarding crosswalks and, often, their own safety. Of course, the town should delineate more sidewalks on appropriate locales.
Several months from now, it’s likely The Times will be reporting about angry parents who feel the police targeted their kids with driving offenses, or parents contesting their own parking tickets for placing their vehicles in "no parking" areas on or near school properties.
Many Montclair residents foster a "center of the universe" perspective of themselves and their family members, for whom the safety and self-interest of other citizens of Montclair, along with longstanding laws and regulations, are irrelevant.
