'Keep Kids Alive Drive 25' Signs' Removal Causes Uproar In Toms River

TOMS RIVER, NJ — It's a seemingly innocuous program: Small plastic signs placed along roads to remind drivers to obey the residential speed limit of 25 mph, for the safety of kids playing in the neighborhood.

Those signs — the removal of them from a Toms River neighborhood, to be specific — sparked criticism and arguments at the Toms River Township Council meeting Wednesday night.

The "Keep Kids Alive, Drive 25" campaign in Toms River started in March 2023. It's part of a national campaign that has been targeting speeding in residential areas for 25 years, according to the Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 website.

The signs are placed in neighborhoods where there have been complaints about speeding, according to a letter from the Toms River Police Department that is distributed to residents of the streets where the signs are deployed. They are in place for a couple of weeks and moved around, Patch has confirmed.

Mayor Daniel Rodrick repeatedly insisted the signs are township property, but information reviewed by Patch showed the signs were paid for by the Toms River Police Foundation, which paid the sign vendor directly for the signs and purchased more sturdy stakes for the signs from Amazon.

The most recent placement of the signs was on Indian Hill Road and McGuire Drive on April 5, according to information Patch received, following complaints in early March about speeding. The signs had been in place for about a week when a resident called and reported them stolen, according to the police report on the incident.

The investigation found the 23 had been removed by a Toms River Township employee, whose name was redacted from the police report. The police report says the case was declared "an administrative matter" and closed.

Rodrick did not answer text messages from Patch sent on April 16 and April 17 seeking comment on why the signs were removed.

On Wednesday night, he told resident Walter Herman that the issue was a personnel matter. But as Herman pressed for information, Rodrick started talking over him — as he has done multiple times to multiple residents since being sworn in as mayor in January.

"Those signs are not supposed to be up for a month," Rodrick said, and referenced a digital speed reader the police department uses that tells drivers how fast they are going, while at the same time tracking the amount of speeding that happens in a location. The digital speed reader had been in place for a few weeks and then removed before the "Drive 25" signs were set up.

Indian Hill Road and McGuire Drive are cross streets not far from where Rodrick lives.

Information Patch reviewed shows the signs also were deployed along Yorktowne Boulevard after the Township Council passed an ordinance lowering the speed limit along the road to 25 mph to help alert drivers to the change. The speed limit change had been requested by the residents of Holiday City, where Council Vice President Lynn O'Toole lives.

Julie Adamek, who lives on Cedar Grove Road, said the signs made a significant difference when they were placed along Edken Avenue, a through street between Cedar Grove Road and Hooper Avenue near St. Joseph's Cemetery.

"Who cares if they're there for seven days or 10 days?" she said. "If they're effective they should stay."