Sophia Anastasia is haunted by that image, the second time in three months a pedestrian was hit by a car in this intersection in Montclair. She and her neighbors now hope these bright and colorful signs encourage drivers to go slowly when passing Upper Mountain Avenue and Normal Avenue.
Paul Mickiewicz leads Bike and Walk Montclair, an advocacy group for pedestrians. He’d like to see Montclair create a Vision Zero task force, and follow in the footsteps of Jersey City and Hoboken, two cities that have seen their streets become safer and credit Vision Zero.
“The idea is not just to fix one intersection, but the idea is to make sure that our county roadways and byways in municipalities are working off of one plan to help reduce traffic crashes, help improve traffic safety,” said Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, who hosted a Zoom meeting last week with people in Montclair and heard their complaints about intersections like this one.
Montclair Councilor Peter Yacobellis says residents ask him about traffic safety more than any other local issue. He says Montclair is working to set up a Vision Zero task force in the next couple of weeks.
