Question 5: Speeding is a quality of life problem on many Verona streets. How would you appeal to your fellow Verona residents to get them to slow down?
Donna Cannizzaro: I grew up in a household with a Verona Police officer, my dad, and the subject of speeding goes back decades, so this is not a new problem in the Township.
I think today, our hectic lifestyles have, to some degree, advanced us to more aggressive driving. Racing around to get to sports practices, to work, to the dentist, the day care center before closing, etc., we have all been there in today’s world. When you couple this aggressive, harried driving with the distractions of talking on a cell phone or texting, you have a recipe for a tragedy. This is a very important quality of life issue for our community and trust that the residents, as well as high school students recognize it as an important issue.
Some would advocate lowering the speed limit. However, studies have shown that this is an ineffective solution because rather than monitoring their speedometer against speed limit signs, most drivers will travel at a speed they deem typical for the roadway conditions.
As a start, I would suggest that the Verona police do an audit of the busiest roads where they issue the most summonses to consider a change in speed limits. I would also ask our Verona Police Department, in conjunction with our Public Works Department, to institute a neighborhood traffic calming program that emphasizes community involvement to determine Verona’s neediest roads and combines education and enforcement with engineering techniques such as speed bumps, speed humps, speed cushions, speed tables, and radar speed sign trailers. Although these variations of speed bumps can be effective in keeping speeds down, their use is controversial as they can cause damage to certain model cars especially sports cars. However, speed tables appear to be doing a good job slowing down traffic, for example, on Derwent Avenue. These offered traffic solutions will depend on the location of the street, volume of traffic, street contour and grade.
Studies and law enforcement data show that the majority of the speeding on local roads is done by local drivers who live in those neighborhoods. I would believe that the same statistics would apply to Verona. I believe a community education campaign that includes articles in the Cedar Grove Verona Times, MyVeronaNJ website, posters at community gatherings, our schools, the Verona Public Library, and the Verona Community Center can be effective at increasing awareness and reducing speeds. Also, lawn and yard signs like the “Little Johnny” flag holders are effective in reminding people to slow down.
Our high school’s Drivers Education classes should continually reinforce the cause and effect of speeding, careless driving, and most importantly, the dangers of texting while driving. Education, by itself, will not deter speeders and we cannot rely solely on the police. You may have noticed signs posted in neighboring communities which exhibits the State’s #77 alert system. This system was previously used for reporting aggressive driving, but will now be used to report all forms of dangerous driving from operating a vehicle while looking at a cell phone, to those driving while impaired. April is “Distracted Driving Awareness Month” and on April 7, 2017, a press release from the NJ Attorney General announced this new initiative to combat distracted driving Rebranding the State’s #77 Program allowing motorists to report dangerous driving.
The effectiveness of any traffic program will depend on how invested the community is in making it work. This makes community involvement from the earliest stages very important. We need all of Verona to recognize problems in neighborhoods and to work with our police, engineer and public works departments, and our Mayor and Council to address these traffic problems.
Working together we can make Verona safe for everyone.
