Posted by Jackson, NJ – In today’s Asbury Park Press, they ran an article about the problems we face on Route 527/528/East Veterans Highway. It was a very well written article that highlights the different concerns people in town have with the road from the speed limit, road conditions, enforcement, careless driving and blind turns.
One thing we all get caught up in with this road is where to assign the blame. Is it the road? Is it the drivers? Is it the enforcement? Is it Jackson? Is it the County? The problem should not lie in whose fault it is, but we should be concentrating efforts as a community to go passed the blame game, realize there’s a problem, address the problems and save lives.
This week, the Jackson Township Police Department have been conducting speed traps all along the road and around town, which I have already seen noticable results in just a short period of time. When there are flashing lights on the side of the road, drivers mysteriously drive the speed limit, hang up their cellphones and pay attention.. if only for a few seconds before and after they pass.
Mayor Reina will be setting up driver education classes for young drivers as so often is the case, their inexperience has led them to be involved in many of the accidents we see every day. He’s also been working with traffic safety and the county, pressuring for short term solutions that could help us get through the next few months until the 2010 construction project begins.
Even the school district is finally realizing that while not their fault at all, they can also be a vital link to the entire solution that saves lives in our town and mitigate risks to children who have to drive on this road with the crazies every day.
I may have angered a few people along the way in this crusade and perhaps ruffled feathers, but at the end of the day, if we can start saving lives today, then the fallout and backlash will be well worth it. It’s easy for us to just sit here and say “people should just drive safely and it’s their fault” we have to remember that for every careless driver talking on the cell phone, doing their makeup or blowing through a stop sign that gets involved in an accident, we have to remember that in the other car, there was an innocent person doing the right thing and going on about their day like the rest of try to do. As a community we can save lives together and that should be one of the primary goals of Jackson Township, not just on East Veteran’s but on all of our roads where we have these problems.
