Dear Editor:
In the shadow of last month’s tragic pedestrian death in Lake Parsippany, I want to offer my condolences for our community’s loss.
I also want to address the fact we must do much better in stopping for pedestrian crosswalks.
At about 12:40 p.m. Saturday September 9, 2017, I was out for a jog and attempting to cross Allentown Road at the intersection of Marmora Road. I stood in the painted crosswalk as two cars ignored the “STOP FOR PEDESTRIANS IN THE CROSSWALK” sign that was in the middle of the road not 100 feet away. I pointed at the sign and gestured to “slow down,” as instructed by the Parsippany’s Police Force at the Sedgefield Meet the Candidates Night in May. The first driver ignored me completely. The second gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up out the window as he sailed by. This refusal of drivers to stop for pedestrians at crosswalks is no isolated incident. It happens to me regularly, even when pushing my young child in a jogging stroller.
Clearly, a new safety study and plan is desperately needed. But drivers must also obey the traffic and pedestrian laws, as written for today.
When we break from a sense of community and neighborhood and retreat into entitlement and social isolation, then we are truly broken.
I believe that we can all do better—that we will do better.
Let’s start at the crosswalk.
Sincerely,
Emily Peterson
Candidate for Town Council
