Another Pedestrian Hit in Montclair Neighborhood Where Residents Urge Drivers To Slow Down

Update: Essex County At-Large Commissioner Brendan W. Gill issued the following statement Thursday in response to traffic accidents involving pedestrians in residential areas of Montclair:

“I am very disturbed to learn another pedestrian/resident was involved in a traffic accident. Above all, I am hoping that they are okay and wishing them a speedy recovery from injuries sustained. As a commissioner and township resident myself, I share the concerns of our constituents and I am working closely with the Township of Montclair and the Essex County Executive on this issue. Furthermore, I wholeheartedly support the recommendations of the constituents, which promote speed reduction and traffic calming interventions. I will encourage County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr., to adopt these recommendations.”

Montclair, NJ – A Montclair neighborhood is doing all it can to get drivers to slow down and watch for pedestrians on a stretch of Upper Mountain Avenue that has had several incidents, most recently a pedestrian hit by a car Monday.

Drive along Upper Mountain Avenue between Mount Hebron Road and Normal Avenue and you’ll see eye-catching signs with different messages, all urging drivers to slow down and drive safely. The signs are the result of a neighborhood response to a pedestrian incident in November when a fellow neighbor, crossing Upper Mountain Avenue with her three-year-old son, was struck by a vehicle in the crosswalk. The child was not injured, but his mother suffered a fractured ankle and a head injury. The driver of the vehicle was issued a summons for failing to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk.

Sophia Anastasia, a resident who was one of the first on the scene, remembers that day as traumatic for the neighborhood, including her daughters whose school bus dropped them off in front of their neighbor who was still lying in the street.

The community, stunned and angry, started talking about how they could make their neighborhood safer. An idea to create different signs to get drivers’ attention was embraced as a way they could immediately take action.

A Strong Message

Frankie Cevallos researched local and online yard sign printers; Frankie’s husband Rico, designed the signs, incorporating the different messages created by the group. Cevallos shared a Google form with surrounding neighbors on Upper Mountain and Normal Avenues to include as many homes as possible and then bulk ordered all the signs.

“The signs were just one actionable ‘thing’ we could do to address pedestrian safety. Another important community effort was reaching out to Essex County last fall to fix our intersection’s pedestrian crossing signals,” says Cevallos.

According to Anthony Puglisi, public information officer for Essex County, within the last month, the intersection of Normal Avenue and Upper Mountain Avenue was upgraded with pedestrian only crossing segments.

“This means that when a pedestrian pushes the button, motor vehicles from all directions into the intersection get a red light which will enable a pedestrian-only crossing time,” says Puglisi.

Resident Madeline Ruiz Robinson says it’s not enough.

Robinson had asked the county for a leading pedestrian interval (LPI) which gives pedestrians the opportunity to enter the crosswalk at an intersection 3-7 seconds before vehicles are given a green.

“This would only add seconds to cars waiting at the light, while protecting human life — at no cost to the county,” says Robinson.

Robinson and other residents want to see more done, especially after learning that another pedestrian was struck on Monday. That incident, at 1:06 p.m., was again at the intersection of Upper Mountain Avenue and Normal Avenue.

Preliminary investigation by Montclair Police showed that a 2017 GMC Acadia, being operated by a 39 year-old female from Little Falls, was traveling southbound on Upper Mountain Avenue. At the intersection of Normal Avenue she had a green light and was making a left hand turn onto Normal Avenue to travel eastbound. While making the turn, she struck a 45 year-old female from Bloomfield, who was crossing Normal Avenue (from north to south) in the crosswalk. The pedestrian had an abrasion to the right side of her head and complained of pain to her head, left leg, right arm, and back. Montclair Ambulance Unit # 24 and EMS-1 responded to the scene. The pedestrian was evaluated and subsequently transported to St Joseph’s Hospital for treatment. The driver of the GMC was issued as summons for Failing to Yield to a Pedestrian in the Crosswalk.

“Both Upper Mountain Avenue and Normal Avenue are county highways cutting through this very residential neighborhood, with several serious pedestrian dangers, speed being No. 1.,” says Robinson, who emailed Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo in November asking for the County to lower the speed limit and add rumble strips. She urged that implementing these modifications “should not wait until one more person is struck or killed.”

Making Streets Safer

Laura Torchio, AICP, a member of Bike&Walk Montclair’s Board of Directors and a resident of the Upper Mountain & Normal neighborhood, says pedestrian safety is an issue in this neighborhood as well as throughout Montclair.

“Even though we have a very walkable infrastructure and many transit options, Montclair (both its town and county roads) are designed for the movement and storage of cars, not for the comfort of people outside of cars,” says Torchio.

Much more could be done at this location, as well as other locations in Montclair, to enhance pedestrian safety.

At a minimum, Torchio says the Township of Montclair, Essex County, NJ Transit, Montclair State University and other neighborhood stakeholders should consider additional safety improvements, including implementing traffic calming and pedestrian scale lighting as well as installing gateways into town at Upper Mountain, Normal Avenue (coming from Cedar Grove) and Mount Hebron (from Cedar Grove). Gateways offer visual cues to motorists that they’re entering a pedestrian priority slow zone.

Other traffic calming interventions include vertical and horizontal deflectors (like speed humps or chicanes), sidewalks and and pedestrian-priority signal timing. These measures and more can create a “self enforcing” driving environment that requires better attention and slower speeds, Torchio says.

Winter especially poses additional challenges to pedestrian safety in this area, where there are already no sidewalks on one side of Normal Avenue and along one side of Upper Mountain Avenue.

“Do better when plowing,” Torchio adds. “Don’t leave it to the homeowner on the corner to chisel through the ice piles. Make sure both sides of Normal Avenue are shoveled across the tracks.”

Torchio says the town needs to codify and implement Montclair’s SAFE Streets Plan and Essex County’s Complete Streets Policy and adopt a Vision Zero Task Force. She added that Peter Yacobellis and Bike&Walk Montclair are looking to establish a Vision Zero Task Force for the Township in 2023.

“As a Board Member for the New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition and a local elected official, I believe public policy has to be oriented towards and resources dedicated to ending the risk of death or serious injury on our roads,” says Councilor at Large Peter Yacobellis. “That requires stronger enforcement of existing law, implementing safe complete streets best practices and adopting a vision zero plan for the Township. The list of intersections and streets where residents have raised safety concerns is overwhelming and it makes me feel as though we’re too often treating the symptoms and not the disease which is outdated road design and distracted and careless driving. I’m sorry these residents had to take matters into their own hands. But I get it. Government can be incredibly slow and frustrating and I’d do the same thing if I had kids to protect.”