Have you heard the one about … ? It’s an enforcement joke that’s not funny if you live here.
Metuchen has a posted traffic restriction on trucks over 4 tons on Eggert/Grove avenues (a main north/south corridor through the borough).
Unfortunately, enforcement is a joke, as witnessed by this resident at the junction with Amboy Avenue. In an effort to remediate the daily and frequent flow of numerous oversized trucks, I charted the offenders over several months and emailed the specifics of hundreds of violations to the police chief, mayor and council. I provided dates, times, vehicle descriptions and chronic offender identities.
While there is signage, it is grossly inadequate and ineffective. For instance, a truck going west on Amboy and about to turn onto Eggert does not see a sign posting the weight limit until after it is in a dedicated turning lane and turning onto Eggert. The Amboy Avenue signs are different from those on Eggert (no through truck traffic: [no weight limit cited]), and are at differential locations, with poor visibility and in competition with other nontraffic signs in this heavily signed area.
There is an occasional police patrol posted at several points, but never at prime time and often at break time (the coffee and other shops at nearby Tano Mall are very popular).
Whether it’s inefficiency, indifference or “special treatment,” this chronic problem shortchanges the folks who live here and have to deal with the resultant noise and property damage, and is an apparent dereliction by officials responsible for enforcing the posted law.
R.G. Douglas
Metuchen