Pedestrian Safety Issues Addressed By Summit Mayor, Police Chief

SUMMIT, NJ — The issue of pedestrian traffic and safety was discussed at last week's Summit Common Council meeting, with Mayor Nora Radest and Police Chief Steven Zagorski weighing in on the issue.

After resident Fred Clemons brought up a number of safety concerns that he observed in the city, Zagorski spoke about some initiatives the police have been working on since the start of the school year, which includes cracking down on motor vehicle enforcement.

This discussion also follows a recent incident where an 84-year-old resident was hit while crossing Summit Avenue on Sept. 15.

Read more: 84-Year-Old Summit Resident Hit By Car, Summit Ave. Closed: Police

Zagorski said for the last two weeks, police have increased their enforcement on reckless driving by targeting problems areas in town.

However, he said staffing levels in the Police Department are currently down because some officers have retired and they are working on training and hiring new officers.

Zagorski said many officers are working overtime and putting out special details to crack down on motor vehicle enforcement.

Clemons, who lives on Orchard Street, said his main concern is that drivers are not coming to full stop at stop signs, and if they do stop, he said it's often on top of the pedestrian crossing.

"That's been a problem because I was almost run over because of that," Clemons said.

Clemons explained that he was crossing Union Place on Summit Avenue when he saw a car coming toward him. He expected the car to stop, since there is a stop sign, so Clemons kept walking but the car ended up right in front of him on the crosswalk, nearly hitting him.

He said he noticed that reckless behavior tends to happen the most between 12 and 1 p.m.

This past week, Clemons said he counted at least three dozen pedestrians that did not press the crossing button before crossing and about two dozen cars that rolled through the crossing.

"For pedestrian safety to be [the police's] priority, it's not making any sense to me because nothing is happening," Clemons said.

He also mentioned that many bicyclists are riding on the sidewalks where pedestrians should have priority to walk. He said he has seen many bicyclists ignore the traffic laws in town.

Mayor Radest agreed with Clemons that she has seen a change in people's driving habits recently.

"I am seeing a complete decrease in personal responsibility among citizens in our town," Radest said. "We have 47 police officers on the payroll, we're down a few right now, but we have 22,000 people in town. None of us want to have a police officer on every corner."

She said residents need to to teach their children about pedestrian safety and to drive responsibility, as opposed to "looking constantly to the city to make sure everything is perfect."

The city recently took action on improving traffic and pedestrian safety by installing a four-way stop at an accident-prone intersection between Canoe Brook Road and Hartley Road.

Read more: Accident-Prone Summit Intersection Gets 4-Way Stop

You can watch the full Oct. 6 Summit Common Council meeting on YouTube below:

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