Police Launch Initiative to Reduce Pedestrian Accidents

Fair Lawn police will place a greater enforcement emphasis on pedestrian safety issues next month in an effort to reduce the number of pedestrian strikes in the borough, according to a department release.

The monthlong borough-wide safety initiative, which will target both motorists and pedestrians, will focus on three specific areas in town: 

• Fair Lawn Avenue between Abbott Road and Chandler Drive (The Radburn Train Station area)
• River Road between Fair Lawn Avenue and Berdan Avenue (The River Road business district)
• Broadway

Officers will target motorists who fail to stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk or use cell phones while driving, as well as pedestrians who cross against the signal, fail to use crosswalks at intersections and cross mid-block in front of vehicles, police said.

Since 2010, Fair Lawn has had about one pedestrian strike every two weeks, according to police department data.

A Patch analysis of Fair Lawn's "most dangerous" roads for pedestrians found that more than one-quarter of all pedestrian strikes in the past three years have occurred on Fair Lawn Avenue.

Earlier this week, in the borough's most recent pedestrian strike, an elderly Fair Lawn woman dressed in all black was struck by a car while crossing Morlot Avenue and suffered a broken leg, police said.

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