OCEAN CITY POLICE RELEASE:

Chief Chad Callahan of the Ocean City Police Department announced today (Monday, Aug. 17) that a new pedestrian safety program designed to educate New Jersey motorists about safely sharing the roads with pedestrians.

“New Jersey’s yield to pedestrian law has been in effect for decades, yet the compliance rate is minimal,” said Chief Callahan. “Through this unique enforcement effort, we can add teeth to the existing law, increase public awareness about pedestrian safety and ultimately reduce injuries and deaths.”

Known as the “Pedestrian Decoy” program, this new initiative places undercover police officers, posing as pedestrians, at intersections in the community that have a high incidence of pedestrian/motorist conflicts. Motorists who fail to yield to the undercover officers are stopped and issued a warning by a uniformed officer a short distance away.

“Each year in New Jersey, pedestrians account for 20 – 25 percent of all traffic fatalities, that’s double the national average,” said Pam Fischer, Director of the Division of Highway Traffic Safety. In 2009, we have begun to see a significant upturn in pedestrian fatalities. The new effort will help address this disturbing trend through both education and enforcement, and send a strong message to motorists that failure to give pedestrians the opportunity to cross safely won’t be tolerated.”

Violators of the law face a $100 fine(plus court costs and fees) and two points on their driving record.

“The purpose of the program is not to write tickets,” added Chief Callahan. “We want motorists to learn about life-saving importance of yielding to pedestrians. By doing that, compliance with the law will increase and crashes involving pedestrians will be reduced.”