Freehold Township police will be handing out Pace Car magnets to people who pledge to follow local traffic laws. The magnet affixed to a car will make motorists who are driving behind a Pace Car participant aware that the driver is following the rules of the road. FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP – Be the first in your neighborhood to sign up for a Pace Car magnet and become a mobile speed bump.
People who join the Freehold Town-ship Police Department’s Pace Car program will have a chance to help keep the township safer by doing their part to help control speeding on local streets.
Lt. Robert Brightman said the program is a response to complaints that have been made by residents about motorists who speed on local roads.
“This program is a responsible and proactive approach that allows the community to be involved,” he said.
Brightman said he looked for a program that would slow down speeders and partner with the community. He found the Pace Car program, whose motto is “Please Slow Down, It’s Our Town.” The program is funded by a grant from the New Jersey Division of Highway Safety. Brightman said he applied for the grant in February 2006 and received the funding so that it may be implemented now.
He said Freehold Township will be the first municipality in New Jersey to offer the program. He explained that the Pace Car program is a citizen-based effort to “calm traffic on neighborhood streets, thereby improving the safety and quality of life of all Freehold Township residents.”
The idea of the Pace Car is simple.
“It uses cars to calm cars,” the officer said.
Calling the vehicles that will participate in the program “mobile speed bumps,” Brightman said it encourages motorists to drive the posted speed limit on neighborhood streets and to be courteous to pedestrians and cyclists.
Participating motorists pledge to obey the speed limit, stop for pedestrians who are crossing a street, be courteous to cyclists and to others, and to display the Pace Car magnet so that drivers behind them know why they are driving so courteously.
There are two components of the program, according to Brightman – education and enforcement. He said police officers will present the program in many venues, including Freehold Township High School. Getting the community to participate is the key to making the Pace Car idea work, according to the lieutenant.
As far as enforcement, officers will patrol township streets in marked and unmarked cars to enforce the traffic laws and will issue summonses to violators.
“The Pace Car program will make the streets safer for children and adults to walk and cycle,” Brightman said.
– Clare Marie Celano