Cops Ticket Over 100 Drivers in Push for Pedestrian Safety

The Fort Lee Police Department’s “Cops in the Crosswalk” program, part of a broader police effort to improve pedestrian safety in the borough, caught over a hundred drivers last week for failing to yield the road to pedestrians.

The program, funded through a grant from the NJ Department of Highway and Traffic Safety, places plainclothes officers at busy intersections to serve as decoy pedestrians and ticket drivers for failing to stop at crosswalks.

An officer placed at the intersection of Anderson and Stillwell Avenues Saturday marked the first weekend operation since the program’s inception earlier this year.

Forty-three summonses were issued Saturday, adding to the over one hundred $230 tickets handed out last week on Hudson Terrace. The summons also carries a penalty of two points against the driver’s license.

Since the beginning of the year, 14 pedestrians have been struck in Fort Lee, including a fatality on Anderson Avenue in January.

“Safety is a top priority for the police department,” Chief Keith Bendul said in a release, noting a month-by-month decline in pedestrians struck since a high of seven in January.

“Summonses will continue to be issued to either the driver or the pedestrian if they violated a motor vehicle statute during the collision.”