Law Advice

Motorists in New Jersey who fail to respect pedestrian rights,
could find themselves coming up against a plain clothes police
officer.That’s because a program that uses police officers to
act as pedestrians in order to crack down on motorists who fail to
yield,
is now underway.This is not the first time that New
Jersey has had a program like this.The results of earlier
programs have been successful, and police officers will be looking
to cite or ticket motorists who don’t yield to
pedestrians.

It’s important that drivers in New Jersey know that if you see a
pedestrian on the crosswalk, you must stop and wait for the
pedestrian to finish crossing before you drive on.Failure to
do so will likely result in a citation if you’re in one of the 13
New Jersey towns that have received a grant to conduct the
program.Across the state, 13 police departments have received
8,000 in grants to conduct the pedestrian decoy
program.Violators of these rules will be fined 200, plus
court fees.They will also have two points on their driving
record.

Waiting for a pedestrian on the crosswalk to finish crossing before
you drive on, is not a difficult concept to grasp.It’s a
fairly simple task, but it never fails to amaze me as a New
Jersey accident lawyer, that so many motorists fail to respect
these most basic pedestrian rights.

This isn’t to say however that pedestrians have no responsibility
at all while they are walking.Always cross at a marked
crosswalk.If you’re not in a crosswalk, know that you have to
yield to a motorist.If you’re jaywalking, you can expect to
be fined.

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