Pedestrian safety should get higher priority in Shore towns

Pedestrian safety should get higher priority in Shore towns
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 11/6/07
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When Timothy D. Girard is off duty from his tours as a merchant marine, he spends a lot of time walking and driving around the coastal areas of Monmouth and Ocean counties. A pet peeve of his — drivers who don't give pedestrians the right-of-way in crosswalks — really hit home this summer.

Girard, of Point Pleasant, spotted a man in a wheelchair at a crosswalk in Belmar. Girard stopped his auto to allow the man to proceed across the northbound lanes, but a steady stream of southbound traffic stopped him — no one giving him time to pass, in spite of the cones and signs saying that drivers must yield to pedestrians.

That, and another instance when he witnessed an elderly person forced to wait through two light cycles trying to walk across Arnold Avenue in Point Pleasant Beach, were the straws that broke the camel's back. He wrote a letter to the editor, decrying how many seasonal police officers are hired to ticket vehicles parked over their time limit in Shore communities when they should be seeing to the safety of the people first. His letter, published Sept. 9, was selected as the best letter of the month by the Press editorial board.

Girard was aboard a ship and couldn't be interviewed in time for publication. But his wife, Teresa, said pedestrian right-of-way is a pet peeve. "He's very passionate about making sure that pedestrians trying to cross the street have the right of way," she said. "He likes people to do the right thing. It does irk him (when drivers ignore the rules)."

Girard will receive a specially embossed mug and an invitation to our next letter writers' reception. Other finalists from the 202 letters published in September include: Marshall Siegel of Freehold Township, who wrote on the 2nd in favor of "fish police" to prevent overfishing; Bobbi Starkey of Toms River, who wrote on the 5th that people should be responsible for their health, not the government; Larry Cella of Middletown, who on the 22nd described several opportunities for corruption to flourish in government; and Jon Carman of Barnegat, who wrote on the 23rd how a Press article on diabetes was published the same day his daughter was diagnosed and gave the family hope.