By Jennifer Kohlhepp, Managing Editor
CRANBURY — The Township Committee unanimously voted to introduce an ordinance Monday night that would both help police officers more easily issue speeding summonses and reduce speed limits on two roads where speeding is a continuous problem.
The ordinance comes as a result of the Cranbury Police Department requesting a complete list of streets and other areas with speed limits be included in the township code.
While working on codifying the speed limits, the Township Committee took the opportunity to assess the speeding issues on Cranbury Neck Road and Plainsboro Road and propose lower speed limits on portions of those roads.
The proposed ordinance states the speed limit on Cranbury Neck Road from town to Wynnewood Drive would remain 25 mph, from Wynnewood Drive to Applegate Court would be 35 mph and from Applegate Court on to the township line would be 50 mph.
The speed limit on Plainsboro Road from town to 142 Plainsboro Road would remain 25 mph, from 142 Plainsboro Road to Petty Road it would be 40 mph and from Petty Road to the township line it would be 45 mph.
“Since starting my career with Cranbury in 1991, speeding has always been one of the most important issues for our residents,” Police Chief Rickey Varga said. “We have seen growth not only in our community but tremendous growth to our neighboring municipalities. This has greatly increased traffic volume and patterns in our town. With that increased volume comes an increase in violations and abuse of speed limits.”
What the township hopes to accomplish with the proposed ordinance is to codify all the set speed limits in the township into one ordinance, which will help officers when they are issuing summonses.
“Currently our police officers only have the ability to issue Title 39 speeding summonses — our New Jersey statutes governing motor vehicle laws — on public — state, county and municipal roadways,” Chief Varga said. “By adopting this ordinance, officers may now issue ordinance violations on quasi-public and easement right of ways such as our parks and parking lots.”
Chief Varga said township officials thought it best to incorporate all these roadways in one ordinance so it is less confusing for the officers.
“Instead of having separate ordinance numbers for each individual roadway, all the roads are now identified under one concise ordinance,” Chief Varga said. “The officers now know they may issue Title 39 summonses for violations on public roadways and now reference one ordinance violation number for quasi-public street violations. If officers are uncertain if the roadway is public or quasi–public they have a quick reference point by looking up the code from their patrol vehicle.”
According to the proposed ordinance, unless another penalty is expressly provided by New Jersey statutes, every person convicted of a violation of the ordinance would be liable to a penalty of not more than $50 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 15 days or both.
Chief Varga said the township’s police officers are very active enforcing speed limits and keeping residents safe.
“Cranbury is well known as a walking community,” Chief Varga said. “Our children feel safe to walk to the village to meet friends, grab an ice cream, visit the different store fronts or bicycle to one of our parks. We have worked hard not only with speed enforcement but also with programs such as ‘pedestrian crosswalk enforcement/safety education,’ ‘distracted driving’ campaigns, ‘bicycle safety’ and ‘aggressive driving’ enforcement just to name a few. Active patrols along with aggressive enforcement and education will continue to be the mainstay of our efforts to keep our roadways, residents and children safe.”
A public hearing on the ordinance will be held during the next Township Committee meeting at 7 p.m. on June 22 at Town Hall.
