Who said you can’t fight city hall? As a result of the petition signed by more than 100 residents of Pond View Drive, as well as Edgemere, Prospect, Parkway, and Maple avenues and presented to Plainsboro Township Committee at its meeting on October 13, a plan has been devised to deal with the problem. ##M:[more]##
At issue is the continual speeding by harried motorists and the disregard of pedestrians and stop signs.
Residents in the Village area who regularly cross these intersections have been angry that the township was not doing enough to enforce its speeding laws.
According to Clifford Mauer, Plainsboro’s director of public safety, the township was already taking steps even before receiving the petition. These included the installation of high intensity street signs advising motorists of crosswalks, the re-striping of crosswalks, replacement of some speed signs, trimming of trees to enhance the view of speed signs, and the construction of sidewalks at the upper and lower ends of the streets. All the streets are scheduled to be re-striped later this fall.
The township also announced other steps to deal with the problem. Immediate steps include enhanced enforcement by either patrol vehicles or a selective enforcement team; a speed advisory trailer will be placed on one of the streets on a daily basis and the streets will appear on the traffic officer’s advisory to patrol for enforcement during the next several months. In addition, announcements of intended enforcement targets will be placed on the cable channel bulletin board and will be forwarded to businesses as well as the high schools via the emergency E-mail network.
Intermediate steps include the purchase of software that will enable the township to conduct a speed survey. The plan is to conduct the survey on a 24-hour basis during workdays and during the day on weekends. This will help determine the magnitude of the problem, according to township officials.
Plainsboro Township Committee will be updated monthly on the number of selective enforcement operations conducted and the number of summonses issued. In addition, a traffic light at the Plainsboro Road, Dey Road, and Edgemere Avenue intersection will be installed in 2005 and consideration is being given to reducing the speed limit on Edgemere from 35 to 25 miles per hour.
