‘Forget the skaters, it’s the crosswalks, stupid!’ T
I don’t understand how the town council can chase skateboarders and ban sandwich boards when pedestrians face a constant threat in crosswalks from arrogant or ignorant drivers who fail to yield. I have an office on Broad and Wallace streets, and although I’ve never had a run-in with a skateboarder or a sandwich board, I have been hit by a car while crossing at a crosswalk, had numerous close calls and more than several confrontations. And I continue to watch in anger as shoppers, kids and mothers with strollers are afraid to cross the street, and will wait until all moving cars are well past before they venture across the crosswalks in town.
Drivers continue to ignore the stop sign on White Street approaching Broad, and completely block the crosswalk, waiting to turn right onto Broad. Other drivers, choosing not to wait for Broad traffic stopped at the Monmouth light, will cross over the white lines into oncoming traffic and careen around the corner onto Wallace, scaring any people who happen to be in the crosswalk.
I believe the reason we no longer see the orange reminder pylons at the crosswalks is because one council member only wanted them in place during the Holiday Season. Someone please explain that pretzel logic to me. What will it take before the town starts enforcing laws already on the books and stop chasing their pet problems, and their relatives’ pet problems. Forget the skateboarders! Forget the sandwich boards! Start protecting pedestrians in crosswalks!
By the way, outlawing all skateboarders because some "ruin the benches" is roughly the equivalent of banning all pedestrians because some "spit out their gum on the sidewalks."
Kevin Chieff
Red Bank