The October 10 issue of The Jewish Link featured a community alert, “We Must Be Alert in Our Crosswalks,” which described an unfortunate incident of a community member being struck by a vehicle in a crosswalk in Bergenfield. Thank God, they are expected to recover, and the alert was published as a reminder to stay vigilant in our crosswalks.
I wanted to echo the warning with my own close call on Rosh Hashanah. My family and I were waiting to cross Palisade Avenue at Grayson Place. Thankfully, 15 years of driving experience have trained my peripheral vision and understanding of vehicle “body” language to know that the vehicle turning into our crosswalk was not planning to wait for us. Despite reinforcing pedestrian safety with my 6-year-old daughter, she could not predict this and tried to make her way into the crosswalk after calmly waiting with us for the cross sign. We quickly pulled her back onto the sidewalk, which seemed to make the driver realize they were in the wrong as they then stopped and let us pass. Incidents like these are becoming all too commonplace around town, and while it is important to take responsibility for our safety as pedestrians, I think we need to start taking more responsibility as vehicle operators.
Our cars, vans and trucks have become such a standard tool in our daily lives that it seems we have forgotten the immense responsibility we have as operators every time we get behind the wheel and the impact a split-second decision can make on someone’s life, not to mention our own. The same week as the community alert appeared, news broke that the teen involved in the hit and run at the corner of Palmer and Sherman Avenues, in which a community member was killed earlier this year, would be facing upgraded charges and tried as an adult: two lives destroyed because of a loss of a sense of responsibility.
Day after day I see drivers speeding, double parking, traveling through red lights, failing to stop at stop signs, failing to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks, trying to cut off someone who did stop for a pedestrian and nearly hitting said pedestrian, and even trying to cut off someone making a left turn … by passing them on the left side. It needs to stop, and that starts with you as a driver. Saving the extra two minutes to work, school, shopping or wherever is not worth the potential impact on someone’s life. After all, how would you feel if it were you or your child in the crosswalk?
