Tag: NJ Target Zero

Posted on

Safer Asbury Park Roads, And Input Needed For NJ Roads Needed by September 7th

TOGETHER, WE CAN BUILD A SAFER FUTURE ON NEW JERSEY’S ROADS

In January, 2025 Governor Murphy signed the bill to create the NJ Target Zero Action Plan to end traffic deaths by 2040. The NJ Target Zero Working Group (the task force) was immediately established.

As Director of Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition I am a part of that committee, which has been meeting and working diligently for 6 months.

Testifying at the NJ Senate Transportation meeting for the Target Zero Commission meeting.
Check out the statement from Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition in the press release!
to end traffic deaths by 2040.  But after 6 months, the city of Asbury Park has yet to establish the task force. We have to get going NOW.

We need your help Asbury Park!

We all deserve the right to equitable mobility, which can be achieved by implementing policies, and building infrastructure to enhance the health of our communities, and most importantly, to save lives.

2040 is only 15 years away…

We know from experience in our city that it can take many years to see implementation of basic, simple, painted traffic calming measures, so we have to get going NOW to achieve the 2040 goal.

Asbury Park can follow the template of the NJ Target Zero Working Group, which has been at work for 6 months, and nearly completed the work toward the NJ Action Plan.

Urge AP city leadership to set up the Asbury Park Vision Zero Task Force NOW so we can get to work to achieve the goal of zero traffic deaths in AP by 2040 and to support the NJ goal:

Your input will help make Asbury Park, and NJ roads safer.

Mayor: john.moor@cityofasburypark.com

Deputy Mayor: amy.quinn@cityofasburypark.com

Council member: eileen.chapman@cityofasburypark.com

Council member: yvonne.clayton@cityofasburypark.com

Council member: angela.ahbez@cityofasburypark.com

City Manager: John.Hayes@cityofasburypark.com

Assistant City Manager: cassandra.dickerson@cityofasburypark.com

Transportation Director: James.Bonanno@cityofasburypark.com

How You Can Participate in the NJ Target Zero Commission:

All review comments are now due by September 7.
Now is the time to make your voice heard.
  • Review the draft actions and tell us what you think.
  • Comment on impacts and timeframes: Which actions will make the biggest difference now, and which could make a difference as long-term priorities?
Public Comment on Draft Actions:
Action Impacts & Timeframes
We’re also asking for feedback on the potential safety impacts and implementation timeframes for the following draft actions:
Questionnaires are open, with responses due by September 7, 2025 at 11:59pm.
Each survey takes between 5 and 10 minutes to complete.
 
Share additional ideas or concerns by emailing: targetzero@rutgers.edu.
Thank you so much for your participation!
Onward~
Polli Schildge
Editor and Executive Director Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition
Posted on

Asbury Park resolves to end serious injuries and deaths in crashes on city streets by 2040

We’re very happy to report that Asbury Park City Council has adopted the Asbury Park Vision Zero Policy!

Asbury Park joined with other cities in the state making a commitment to end traffic violence resulting in serious injuries and deaths by 2040.

APCSC has advocated for 4 years for a Vision Zero Policy. At last week’s City Council meeting, on February 12, 2025, the City Council adopted the Vision Zero Resolution, following the Governor’s signing of the NJ Target Zero Bill.
Watch the City Council Meeting on APTV: APCSC thanking AP City Council at the 1:00 mark:
AP City Council meeting 2/12/2025
“Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition applauds the signing of this bold legislation, which will bring about implementation of road safety measures to prevent crashes, injuries, and save the lives of vulnerable road users: anyone outside of a car, and ensure safety for drivers themselves,” said Polli Schildge, Founding Member and Director, Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition. “Crashes, injuries, and fatalities are a human health crisis, affecting everyone, and disproportionately communities like those in Asbury Park, where many residents of all ages must walk and roll for daily transportation. The signing of the New Jersey Target Zero Bill signals a commitment to provide safe, equitable access for everyone on streets and roads in New Jersey.”

It’s a commitment.

Now the work begins. Asbury Park will establish a VZ Task Force, and develop an action plan in order to implement changes to our road design to mitigate speeding, and save lives.
Traffic violence is a human health crisis. Not only affecting the person who is injured or killed, but entire families are impacted financially, and communities suffer the consequences with the impact on our health care system and services.
We must #slowthecars. More kinetic energy is produced when drivers speed.
“If a pedestrian is hit by a vehicle traveling at less than 30 km/h, the risk of bodily injury will be less than 10%, but this rises to about 50% if the vehicle is traveling at 45 km/h.”
“…when implementation of safe transport system deal with challenges, all activities should focus on speed management. “
With the proliferation of larger and larger SUVs and trucks on city streets, drivers are disproportionately killing more people outside of cars. So it’s even more important that traffic calming methods are implemented to deter speeding.

Read and share the Asbury Park Vision Zero Resolution.

Get involved!
Onward~
Polli Schildge, Editor
Asbury Park, NJ
Resolution 2025-108

Resolution Establishing And Adopting Vision Zero Policy And Goal For The City Of Asbury Park

WHEREAS, The City of Asbury Park adopted Resolution 2015-358 establishing a Complete Streets Policy in, which mandated that all public streets be designed to safely accommodate travel by pedestrians and bicyclists as well as motorized vehicles; and,

WHEREAS, traffic-related injuries disproportionately affect children, people of color, people with limited English proficiency, and senior citizens – many of whom regularly rely on non-motorized forms of transportation to move throughout the city; and,

WHEREAS, Vision Zero, a global phenomenon that began in Sweden in 1997, believes in five core principles:

  • .          Cities can prevent traffic deaths;
  • .          Human error is inevitable;
  • .          Cities can prevent serious injuries;
  • .          The entire system, not individual actors, is responsible for safety;
  • .          Saving lives is not expensive; and,

WHEREAS, Vision Zero encourages cities to adopt achievable goals to prevent traffic related severe injuries and fatalities; and,

WHEREAS, cities across the United States, including New York City, Jersey City, and Hoboken have established Vision Zero campaigns establishing the goal of eliminate traffic-related serious injuries and fatalities; and,

WHEREAS, successful implementation of a Vision Zero campaign will require coordinated cooperation between various City departments and community organizations, including the city’s Department of Transportation, Police Department, Department of Public Works, and the Board of Education, and,

WHEREAS, the primary implementation tool for interdepartmental and community coordination is the development of an action plan and a Vision Zero Task Force; and,

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Mayor and Municipal Council adopts the City of Asbury Park Vision Zero Policy with the goal of eliminating traffic related fatalities and serious injuries by the year 2040; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, in coordination with this policy, the city of Asbury Park will develop a Traffic Safety Action Plan and establish a Vision Zero Task Force consisting of members of city staff and local advocates and residents designated by the Asbury Park City Council who meet quarterly to oversee the action plan’s development and implementation in order to reach the aforementioned goal.

 

Posted on

NEWS! Monday Governor’s Press Conference: signing Target Zero Bill. APCSC sends a message to city leaders to adopt a Vision Zero Policy.

Hello APCSC friends~
On Thursday, 2/15/24 I was honored to be among other equitable mobility advocates in NJ, all giving powerful testimony in favor of a strong Target Zero Commission, Bill S361 sponsored by Senator Patrick Diegnan  .
New Jersey is the most dangerous state for pedestrians, with almost double the national average of fatalities. 

Great news!

It passed unanimously!
NJ Bill A1476/S361: Establishes “New Jersey Target Zero Commission.”
On Monday, January 13th, 2025 at 2 pm Governor Murphy will sign the Target Zero Bill NJ A1476/S361 into law.
Vision Zero NJ was instrumental in making it happen.
Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition, along with other advocacy groups and individuals across the state submitted a quote for the Governor’s Press Release:

“Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition applauds the signing of this bold legislation, which will bring about implementation of road safety measures to prevent crashes, injuries, and save the lives of vulnerable road users: anyone outside of a car, and ensure safety for drivers themselves. Crashes, injuries and fatalities are a human health crisis, disproportionately affecting communities like Asbury Park, where many residents of all ages must walk and roll for daily transportation. 

The signing of the New Jersey Target Zero Bill signals a commitment to provide safe, equitable access for everyone on streets and roads in New Jersey.”

-Polli Schildge, founding member and director of Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition

To Asbury Park City leaders~

Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition welcomes the opportunity to work together with Asbury Park leadership to adopt a Vision Zero Policy, and help to enact a VZ ordinance to end crashes, injuries and deaths in the city.

As always, we welcome your comments and thoughts.

Onward~

Polli Schildge,  Editor

Posted on

A preventable tragedy – the Gaudreau brothers killed by a reckless, drunk driver

 

An entitled, impatient, intoxicated driver passing on the right on a dimly lit road killed 2 young men.

The Gaudreau brothers were husbands, fathers, brothers, sons. Their wives and children are husband and fatherless. They were supposed to be groomsmen in their sister’s wedding the following day. Their families are devastated.

He was drunk and dangerous. He killed two people. But he is not ENTIRELY to blame…

The deaths of these two young men was preventable. We need much more than PSAs, signs, education and enforcement.

The only way to reduce the likelihood of deaths and serious injury on our streets and roads is changing the built environment for equitable access for all road users.

Read the New Jersey Bike And Walk Coalition press release.

https://njbwc.org/press-release-gaudreau-brothers/

“This tragedy was avoidable on so many levels. We are not going to achieve zero traffic deaths with cute messaging. We need safer roads, safer drivers and safer vehicles. Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew were killed cycling on Salem County Route 551, a rural road with no shoulders and a 50 mph speed limit by a drunk driver who passed another driver on the right who was safely passing them.”

John Boyle, Research Director for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and the Vision Zero NJ Alliance.

Drivers are prioritized in the US over all other road users.

Roads are public space, but how many of us who walk and roll feel that we have equal right to access the streets in our city – are you fearful of riding a bike or walking in our city of Asbury Park?  Why?

Drivers speed with impunity, run traffic signals and stop signs, and take turns on on red without pausing.

Drivers kill.

New Jersey 2023: There were 177 total pedestrian fatalities, and 24 people riding bikes were killed by drivers.

Whether you’re impressed by data or not…

How many people have to die – it could be YOU, your mother, father, son, daughter, friend.

Driving is a privilege, not a right.

Until we change the culture – the mindset that drivers rule our roads:

Local city leaders can commit to making design changes on streets and roads to keep vulnerable road users safe (that’s any road user outside a car!).

The system in the US prioritizes driving, and the auto industry has such influence that driving is considered a basic human right, but safety on our roads is not.

We can lobby legislators in NJ, and call for NJ to pass the Target Zero Commission bill (S361/A1476).

 The bill will establish a comprehensive plan to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries on New Jersey’s roads by employing proven strategies and countermeasures. We demand that our leaders act now to prevent further tragedies and make our streets safe for everyone.

It’s rare that a license is revoked at all, even if there’s a fatality, and almost never permanently.

That drunk driver taken off the road would be warranted, and prevent him from killing again.

But it’s only a matter of time that another fatality occurs on any road that is not designed for safety of all users.

🤬

Onward.

Polli Schildge, Editor