By Pam Hersh Special Writer
“This is such a joyful vacation,” I said to my granddaughter as we skipped across the street with her holding on to my pinky. My time off this summer has consisted of fun and frolic with my grandbabes — and trips of streetwalking with and without them.
Contrary to the nefarious implications of its name, streetwalking travel bears little resemblance to the sexy, pricey excursions written up each weekend in The New York Times, i.e., a trip to Rhinebeck, N.Y., for Chelsea Clinton’s wedding, or Paris, France, for the dance halls and barge trips on the Seine, or Tarcal, Hungary, the romantic, charming winemaking village.
I am getting my travel high by simply stepping off the curb and crossing the street in Princeton or anyplace in New Jersey, for that matter. For these trips, I need no passport or strip-searching security checks. As a matter of fact, the travel advisers recommend that I leave my shoes on.
With the passage of New Jersey Assembly Bill No. 1329, drivers now risk $200 fines, 15-day community- service sentences and four points if drivers fail to bring their vehicles to complete stops at crosswalks to allow pedestrians to pass in front of them. To an addicted streetwalker, the new law is as delicious as one of those Tarcal wines.
Since the law’s passage, drivers have to stop and remain stopped while a pedestrian is in a marked crosswalk. In addition, drivers making a right turn at a red signal or at a stop or yield sign must stop and remain stopped for pedestrians crossing within the crosswalk into which the motorist is turning. Under the previous law, motorists were required to yield to pedestrians in marked and unmarked crosswalks, but were not obligated to stop and remain stopped.
With a doctorate equivalent in urban and suburban streetwalking (the only discipline in which I can claim an expertise), I have received multiple knocks, bruises, and most frequently heart palpitations from encounters with aggressive and/or oblivious drivers bumping or nearly bumping into me. Princeton drivers seem to be a bit more considerate than drivers in other municipalities without a pedestrian-centered downtown, but I suspect that the traffic congestion slows down the drivers, so they find it much easier to do the right thing and stop.
Nevertheless, I have a few scars from Princeton intersections — the most recent being an injured foot that was strained when I darted away from a car about to turn into me at Nassau and Harrison streets.
Even though I figured that my jet-setting friends would find my trips to be the basis of boring and mundane conversation, I have found the reverse to be true. Because of my streetwalking travel experiences and knowledge about the law, people are seeking my opinion on the topic. An individual who quizzed me on the new law said he was “tired” of hearing about people’s hiking trips in Europe. “There is just so much you can say about wild flowers, gorgeous scenery and fabulous picnic lunches.”
I held his interest by launching a discussion over the penalties for breaking the law. While the $200 fine doubles the existing penalty for crosswalk violations, the new law removes the potential for jail time and instead provides the ability for a judge to impose a 15-day community service sentence. But motorists are not the only ones subjected to fines under the new law. Pedestrians also risk a $54 fine and community service, if they fail to yield the right of way to motorists anywhere except at crosswalks.
The pedestrian punishment dampens my penchant for adding thrills to my streetwalking vacations by racing across Nassau Street between Thomas Sweet and CVS. Also, I wonder about the random $54 fine. If this were Israel, I would say that the fine is “triple chai” or three times 18. Eighteen represents the spiritual number in Judaism, because the letters of the word “chai” which means “life” add up to 18. Maybe the authors of the law were sending a message, i.e., if you, Ms. Pedestrian, would like to have a long life, you had better not jaywalk.
Thirteen New Jersey municipal police departments have received a grant to implement a “decoy” program to enforce the new pedestrian law. Neither Princeton Borough nor Princeton Township is the recipient of such a grant (Monroe Township is the closest decoy grant recipient), but that does not mean that the police intend to be slackers in enforcing this law.
I look forward to the Princeton police making my streetwalking vacation with my grandbabes safe and secure. Furthermore, if I engage in some risky social behavior, i.e., jaywalking streetwalking, I would like to request that my community service sentence be two weeks of serving as a crossing guard.
A longtime resident of Princeton, Pam Hersh is vice president for government and community affairs with Princeton HealthCare System. She is a former managing editor of The Princeton Packet.
