Jackson Township Roadway Safety Commission appointments to be approved

Jackson, NJ – At Jackson Township’s December 8th council meeting, council members are scheduled to approve appointments to township’s newly created Roadway Safety Commission.      The commission, brainchild of Council President Mike Kafton was formed as reactive response to the increase in highway fatalities and accidents in Jackson Township in 2008 and 2009.  

Residents of the township both strongly opposed and supported the measure in previous council meetings.  Opponents feel that the necessary mechanisms are in place to manage roadway safety and that resolutions to many problems Jackson residents face on our busy roads were already well under way.  Others balked at yet another redundant and potentially unecessary layer of government.

On the support side, residents expressed their concerns over the pace of improvement and agreed that more eyes on the problem could benefit residents and help to make township roads safer by offering solutions to township and county engineers as well as law enforcement officials.

In the months since the creation of the panel, there has been no decrease in either roadside fatalities or accidents in Jackson as appointments were postponed to after the November mayoral election and delayed once again at last month’s council meeting.

Many residents are opposed to the committee’s founder, Mike Kafton, being seated on the commission.   Kafton’s own roadway safety record includes a 2005 DUI charge and a 2009 careless driving conviction for passing a handicapped Jackson Township school bus as it was discharging a student.