It is bound to happen sooner than later. Someone will be killed while attempting to cross New Bridge Road. It doesn’t matter how careful you might be. We were all devastated by the news in the past two weeks. A young boy was hit by a car and hospitalized on Yom Kippur. Only a few days later came the news that a woman on her way to a brit in the early morning was hit by a car on New Bridge as well.
We at The Jewish Link feel strongly that we have a responsibility to speak up and say something when we see a dangerous situation taking place right in front of our eyes. The traffic flow on New Bridge Road more than qualifies. We have waited long enough for Mayor Arvin Amatorio and Corey Gallo, the county administrator, to act.
I certainly have tried several times. My last meeting two years ago with both the mayor of Bergenfield and the city executive accomplished absolutely nothing. We are determined not to leave a stone unturned and will work directly with Jim Tedesco, our county executive, to get the wheels in motion to make our streets more safe.
Drivers have no concern for pedestrians and their right of way on the long county road, which also includes the infamous moving cross walk at the corner of Westminster and New Bridge. (Why do I describe it as a moving crosswalk? Because it keeps moving around wherever someone feels like placing a crosswalk sign).
On Yom Kippur evening as we approached New Bridge after leaving the shul, we were overjoyed to see a policeman standing at the corner. The only problem was that he was not standing at the crosswalk nor was his police car parked anywhere near it. When I asked him if he could cross us he asked us to come towards him and then a meager little red flare appeared in his hand and he tried to get cars to stop. They drove past him and I warned him that if he wasn’t careful he would be hit. A small little red light is what he had in his hand and he was standing nowhere near where the crosswalk was supposed to be. Slightly up the block where the “in the pitch dark” crosswalk is supposed to be stood a group of shul goers trying to cross and return home. Who would stop for them and how could anyone see them? They stood for at least 10 minutes.
It is not even enough if you think a car is slowing down for you, because it is the driver behind the first car who has no patience and decides to try to pass whom you really have to be afraid of.
I am not at all surprised that people are being hit on New Bridge Road. It was dramatic that it happened twice in one week, and Baruch Hashem all victims are recuperating from their injuries, but nothing seems to shake our mayor and the city of Bergenfield. It is for that reason that we have decided that we will be going directly to Mr. Tedesco for any further discussions.
It wasn’t enough years ago when the crossing guard was hit by a car while doing her job and suffered serious head injuries. Quite sadly, the way it appears to me at this moment is that only a person who is well known in the town and has the money to sue the town appropriately will get anything done if and when one of their family members sustains serious injuries, or worse, after being hit by a car.
I hope that I am not boring you with the repetition of what I have said in the past. We need to act fast, especially as Beth Abraham grows and more and more families are crossing New Bridge Road to attend any of the myriad events that are going on there. I see it every Shabbat. Little children crossing by themselves. Do not be naive enough to believe that you are free of worries about tragedies such as being hit by a car, devastating your family.
The issue of the traffic flow on New Bridge and the crossing area is not, as Mr. Gallo told me when he visited my home together with Mayor Amatorio, the fault of Beth Abraham. In two years they have not had the courtesy to answer any of our concerns. The fact is that the lighting is so poor, the sidewalks are totally broken and the crossings are unlit and impossible to see. My major concern was at least to install a flashing sign indicating that it was indeed a crosswalk. As Gallo replied: “If you lived in the house on the corner would you want to have a flashing light shining into your windows?” They have proven themselves to be totally inept at dealing with the problems that we as citizens are facing in Bergenfield.
In the future it is very possible that we will be calling upon our readers to join us in beseeching the town to make our road safer. Please join us at that time and do not hesitate to contact me with any further concerns or suggestions. We cannot let people be hit on our neighborhood streets and do nothing about it. We must take action now.
Nina Glick can be reached at [email protected].
