Members of the Red Bank environmental commission are calling for stepped up enforcement of antiidling laws, citing violations at sites including the train station and restaurants.
At the Oct. 27 Red Bank Environmental Commission meeting, members discussed placing more signage around the borough to inform motorists of the state’s no-idling laws.
“I think if it could provide education for people to understand that [idling] has environmentally harmfully effects and also that there are rules against idling,” said Frank Corrado, a member of the environmental commission.
Adding more signs, according to Corrado, could also lead to greater enforcement of the law. “From the standpoint of enforcement, if the police officer’s looking to enforce it, I think someone disregarding a sign that is right in front of them, I think they would be more apt to do it.”
For Corrado, educating the public about the law against idling would have positive effects for the borough.
“It’s a way to improve the lives of the residents who live here so they don’t have to walk by tailpipe [emissions].”
Currently, the commission is looking into placing more signs in areas of the borough that are seen as problem spots for idling.
These areas are “in front of places that people are running in and out of three-four minutes at a time,” said Corrado.
Some of the worst areas for idling, according to Corrado, are around the train station as well as fast-food restaurants.
Borough Council liaison Cindy Burnham said the signs could be helpful but “it’s about enforcement.”
In New Jersey, idling for longer than three minutes, for both diesel and gasoline engines, is subject to a minimum $250 fine. The law can be enforced on both private and public property.
The commission also went over the impacts of a planned emergency access road, which would connect the Red Bank Primary School to Locust Avenue.
Currently, there is only one road that leads to the primary school from River Street.
According to Burnham, should anything happen to that road, there wouldn’t be a way to get students in or out of the school property.
The new access road would be between 800 and 900 feet long and would connect to a circular drive at the front of the school.
Contact Michael Nunes at [email protected].