Politics & Government

Advocates Demand Better Safety for Bikes, Pedestrians

New Brunswick conference brings together municipal officials, planners with the hopes of making downtowns safer for walkers and bicyclists.

Making New Brunswick, and other cities, more accessible for bicycles and pedestrians can help make those communities more successful economically and socially, according to participants in a Saturday forum at Rutgers.

The conference, held at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, was organized by the New Jersey Bike and Walk Coalition and the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center, according to MyCentralJersey.com. The participants included bicyclists and bike organizations and municipal officials from New Brunswick and elsewhere.

New Brunswick Mayor James Cahill, one of the attendees, told the forum that the city is making improvements to aid pedestrians and bikers, including building bike paths and installing flashing crosswalks at busy intersections.

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“[The city’s] willingness to adapt will always be paramount to our success in New Brunswick, and it’s the main reason our city just keeps getting better,” Cahill said, according to The Daily Targum.

A new city ordinance -- adopted in January -- bans bicycles from city sidewalks and another rule passed last year requires cars to give bicyclists a three-foot clearance on the road.

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Jeff Miller, of the Alliance for Biking and Walking, said that about a quarter of New Jersey's traffic fatalities are either pedestrians or bike riders, the second-worst record in the nation.

“New Jersey has great policies … but we want to make sure they’re being implemented,” Miller said, according to The Targum. “[New Jersey citizens should] take advantage of the great policies you have. Push them, implement them, remind elected officials, leaders and others that they’re there.”

What do you think? Is New Brunswick doing enough to protect biker riders and pedestrians?


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