September 14, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 19 look both ways at the same time. The sort of jogger who broadsides a stationary car with his or her body is probably not going to revitalize NASA or find a solution for global warming. But nobody wants to kill the pompous joggers and nobody wants to listen to their self-righteous assertion that people whose standing cars are already in place should pull out of their way because traffic flow prevents road entry. Ever eager to put the other person in a bad light, I checked out the right-of-way issues with two local experts. One is Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox. Wyckoff is a town that, under his guidance as traffic officer, and now as police chief, invariably wins all kinds of top traffic safety awards. The other expert is an attorney and former prosecutor with vast experience in automotive and pedestrian cases. “A bicycle operator must obey all regulations applicable to motor vehicles except for those laws which by their nature have no application to a bicycle,” said Chief Fox. “They must stop for red lights, stop signs, etc. A bicycle operator coming down a hill in excess of the speed limit can be issued a speeding summons.” Chief Fox and the attorney concurred absolutely that pedestrians have no right to walk out from between parked cars and expect right-of-way laws to protect them. The attorney defined this as “jaywalking” and said that pedestrians hit while jaywalking tend not to do well in court, while the motorists who inadvertently hit them tend “to walk.” “A pedestrian crossing a roadway other than a marked or unmarked intersection shall yield the right-out-way to all vehicles on the roadway – NJS 39:4-32,” said Chief Fox. The only way a motorist can get in legal trouble after hitting a jaywalker, the attorney said, is if the motorist flees the scene of the accident. Leaving the scene of an accident where there is an injury exposes the driver to criminal charges. However, if a motorist sticks around and can show that a pedestrian darted out in front of a vehicle and didn’t leave the motorist adequate time to stop, even the act of hitting a jaywalking pedestrian inside a crosswalk can be legally defensible. Chief Fox noted that “a pedestrian cannot enter the roadway when the approaching vehicle is so close that it is impossible for the car to stop or yield.” Fox added, however, that this can be difficult to prove in court unless the accident was filmed when it happened or reliable witnesses saw it happen and testify on behalf of the driver. The message here is that motorists need to exercise extreme caution at crosswalks and red lights, and pedestrians need to refrain from crossing in the middle of the road unless they see no cars anywhere near them. “A vehicle already making a turn has established its right-of-way to the intersection or driveway,” the chief said, adding, “A pedestrian cannot walk or run into the path of a vehicle when the vehicle is so close that it cannot stop or yield.” Both the chief and the attorney chortled over the idea that joggers had any right to expect motorists who are already preparing to enter the street to get out of the joggers’ way, and said that those joggers who chose to run into the vehicles when the vehicles are not moving have “issues.” Chief Fox added that bicyclists are required to display a bicycle light visible from 500 feet when operating at night and that pedestrians are required to use “due care” in protecting their own safety. Motorists who are unfortunate enough to strike pedestrians or cyclists they could not see, the attorney said, are in a reasonably strong defensive position – provided that the motorists don’t panic and flee the scene, which is illegal and could negate a legal defense that might otherwise exonerate the driver. Plain and simple: Being a pedestrian or a bicyclist does not exempt a person from exercising common courtesy and common sense, any more than a driver’s license is a license to kill. Motorists who ignore posted regulations need to be pulled over and ticketed. If they are repeat offenders, they need to have their cars impounded. Jaywalkers also need to receive summonses if their offenses are drastic enough to be potentially life-threatening to others, or even to themselves. It’s a free country? Tell that to the EMTs or the doctor or nurse in the emergency room. Even people who aren’t driving cars have no right to do dangerous things in the public right-of-way. The roads don’t just belong to the bicyclists or the joggers or the motorists. They belong to everybody. Twice in the two hours before writing this column, I saw what I could call “wrong-of-way” incidents that could have killed or disabled pedestrians or bicyclists and cost motorists their licenses and some heavy psychological trauma. These were not isolated instances. In the first instance, I was waiting for the traffic light at Maple Avenue and Glen Avenue. Glen Rock Councilman Mike O’Hagan labored to get this light installed for years, and it is a useful safety feature – if people pay attention to it. The light changed. I looked both ways, headed out, and a middle-aged bicyclist who had the light against him shot right through what had to have been a red light from his perspective. He just kept peddling on. I never got near him, and neither did the people behind me, but he still had the light against him – and appeared not to know or care about it. This was the second time in two weeks I had seen adult bicyclists blow off a red light that stopped the cars traveling the same way. Drivers had to swerve to miss them in the other case. In the second instance, a group that appeared to be a local boys’ track team was jogging along the sidewalk facing traffic when an older motorist came up from behind the stream of joggers, signaled a left turn into a service station, and almost hit one of the stragglers. The kid was nimble enough to jump out of the way. Use some common sense here: Not only do joggers have the right-of-way on sidewalks, but because the older man was coming up behind the endless and rather annoying stream of kids, the kid couldn’t have seen that the motorist was signaling for a left turn unless the kid was looking backwards over his shoulder while jogging. Most people don’t jog that way. You tend to run into a lot of trees or people trying to pull out of their driveways. A few days ago, I was signaling for a turn off Maple Avenue at Ridgewood Library, when a girl who was about 10 years old darted right out in front of my car across the driveway as if I weren’t there. I was already halfway into the turn. If I had pulled a dead stop, the driver behind me might have kissed by bumper, but because I slow down whenever I see a kid on the sidewalk I never came anywhere near her, though she didn’t seem glad to see me. All this stuff is covered by a quote: “The pedestrian has the right of way.” The statement about the pedestrian having the right-of-way came up twice at a recent work session of the Glen Rock Borough Council. Councilwoman Pam Biggs said that, twice in one day, motorists had ignored the fact that she was already in a crosswalk on Rock Road, and had narrowly missed her. She also said she had seen several pedestrians blithely step out from between two parked cars, so motorists had to hit their brakes or hit the pedestrian. Twice in the past few decades, I have seen joggers get quite upset. One girl literally screamed at me because joggers assume that cars should not ever be in their path. This applies, in their rather self-serving vision of the world, to cars whose drivers are taking maximum safety precautions leaving their own driveways ever so slowly. Most cars are not operated by motorists who have two heads and can The wrong-of-way might be a fatal flaw Ridgewood Notes (continued from page 6) should choose a session: 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. or 4:45 to 5:45 p.m. Rain makeup dates will be announced, if needed. The cost for each participant is $75 for six sessions. All students must bring a skateboard, helmet, and knee pads. The Ridgewood Skate Park is located at 259 North Maple Avenue, adjacent to the Stable. Register online at www.ridgewoodnj.net/communitypass or in person or by mail at The Stable, 259 North Maple Avenue. Registration forms are on the recreation homepage at www.ridgewoodnj.net. Call (201) 670-5560 for details. IAUC plans meeting The Irish American Unity Conference, Chapter 5th and 9th CD, will meet on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at Christ Church, 105 Cottage Place in Ridgewood. The IAUC is a human rights organization working for peace with justice in a reunited Ireland. Knights hold Stickball Tournament The member of Ridgewood Knights of Columbus Council 1736 will take to the streets on Saturday, Sept. 24 for Second Annual Stickball Tournament. This event will be held on Passaic Street beginning at 11:30 a.m. The entrance fee is $100 for a team of four. Trophies will be awarded for teams that place first, second, and third. Refreshments, hotdogs, and hamburgers will be served. There will also be a cash prize contest with proceeds benefitting the Ridgewood Police PBA and the New Jersey Firefighter’s Mutual Benevolent Association. Registration is open to all. For an application, or more information, e-mail rich_paliotta@yahoo.com or jmhernandezjr@gmail.com. MOMs Group to meet Our Lady of Mount Carmel MOMs Group will hold meet on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 9:15 a.m. in the parish center at 1 Passaic Street. All are invited to enjoy a cup of coffee with other moms and to learn how to become involved in the Ministry of Motherhood. MOMs meetings feature guest speakers and group discussions, and interest and service groups that include a book club, recipe club, tennis, playgroups, faith sharing groups, and more. Moms of all faiths and ages are welcome. Child care will be provided; e-mail childcare@olmcmoms.org. For more information, visit olmcmoms.org. YMCA launches reciprocity program Members of the Ridgewood YMCA may now visit 31 New Jersey YMCAs at no additional cost. Under a new partnership that brings together YMCAs in New Jersey under a unified reciprocity plan, a total of 31 participating Ys with 49 branches have instituted this cooperative program, called “My Y is Every Y.” A list of participating Ys is available at www.ridgewoodymca.org, or by calling (201) 444-5600. (continued from page 3) Ridgewood elections begin as each prospective candidate attempts to have one percent of registered voters sign a nominating petition. Once the signatures are checked and verified, the candidates receive a place on the ballot and may run as members of a local slate, but not as members of national parties. Last year, the Mahwah Council voted 4-3 to move the May election township’s non-partisan election from May to November. The three council members who voted against the change expressed their concerns regarding the 10-year wait that would be required if municipal officials decided to return to the May election option. However, the change in date will reportedly save Mahwah an estimated $35,000 in election costs, and it is expected to result in a larger voter turnout.