Recent comments in /f/jerseycity

restricteddata t1_j85g7ug wrote

Reply to Driver, Pedestrian, Cyclist: no matter what I am, I feel unsafe traveling by lordleft

I've been thinking about this a bunch while driving and walking in the Heights the last few months (I walk it daily, drive a in and out a couple times a week, and ride a Citibike every once in awhile, so I feel I've been able to see things from a few different perspectives). What, exactly, is the issue? Yes, sometimes it's people doing crazy things like running reds. Those stick out in the mind though honestly when I try to think about how often I see that, it's definitely more than in most cities but still fairly rare.

What seems to create the senes of hazard for me as a pedestrian, sometimes-cyclist, and driver are:

  • the tight streets with poor delineation between "zones" of parking, walking, driving; the amount of constant double-parking on streets that have no room for them (Central, Palisade, Newark, etc.) which requires streams of drivers to snake around quickly;

  • poor and inconsistent lighting which is combined with the modern trend of inappropriately bright headlights make for totally shit visibility at night;

  • intersections that seem built for a lot less traffic than they usually have (the turn from New York Ave onto Ravine, for example, is ridiculous: it is nearly blind for the turner, competing against three different streams of traffic);

  • crossings that seem inherently anti-pedestrian (trying to cross from the 100 steps area into Hoboken, for example, is almost entirely done by people sprinting across the street at a different place than the actual crosswalk, because the visibility at the crosswalk is total shit and the traffic lights are hard to see and will sometimes not give a "walk" signal for several cycles);

  • unprotected left turns (a huge issue in Hoboken, too) that cause both big back-ups and drivers trying to "sprint" across between gaps in traffic or on the yellows;

  • pedestrian crossings that are inherently in competition with cars (people are trying to turn left into you, etc., and they have a small window with which to do it);

  • overly-narrow intersections that require very careful navigation and have too much going on (Central and Manhattan, Central and Franklin jump out to me — you have to just sort of hold your breath and lurch through them if you are trying to turn);

  • a general shittiness of the quality of the pavement which lends to a sense of it being a no-man's land (too many asphalt patches, too many repair areas, too many painted lines never used — I get that resurfacing is expensive and street maintenance is never-ending, but pretty much all of the street surfaces look like garbage, and that adds to a sense of disorder);

...and probably more. Anyway, the above is what I notice most of all. Every once in awhile you see someone do something totally absurd with impunity (I saw someone drive around someone else who was stopped at a red light in order to run the red — who does this?), to be sure. But I suspect that's as much of a symptom of everything else (and lack of any apparent interest in traffic enforcement by JCPD).

(Re: JCPD, I openly laughed at the Fullop "look how great everything has been in 2022" flier that came last week, when it bragged that JCPD was the largest it has ever been or whatever. I thought, you'd think this massive, expensive police force could clear the double parking at the very least.)

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NCreature t1_j85dvtg wrote

Reply to comment by Economy-Cupcake808 in So pedestrian crossings are sort of a suggestion here? by shrillbill

This. The only reason I can tolerate the driving here is because I used to live in Miami which somehow managed to be worse. A lot worse. But it's a lot of the same asshole behavior. The only difference is that in Jersey you actually can get pulled over and people here at least understand the concept of street legal vehicles and sidewalks aren't for cars whereas South Florida was a total free for all. But go figure half the people down there are from Jersey.

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restricteddata t1_j85dkzt wrote

Reply to comment by 111110100101 in Driver, Pedestrian, Cyclist: no matter what I am, I feel unsafe traveling by lordleft

What's funny is you can really see the difference in the few places where Hoboken hasn't spent any time trying to improve the streets. Like try being a pedestrian crossing 15th street north of Willow (where there are no stop signs or lights, no speed bumps, gritty wide streets, poor lighting, etc., and so you get endless lines of cars just gunning it) and you'll quickly realize how much better it is on basically every other street.

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Blecher_onthe_Hudson t1_j85cez3 wrote

Reply to comment by Jahooodie in So pedestrian crossings are sort of a suggestion here? by shrillbill

If they were making a L on red doesn't that means you were crossing against the light too, right? I'm just guessing they entered the intersection legally, had to wait till the light changed to stop oncoming traffic (with a car or 3 running the red), and when they finally made the turn, there you were jaywalking.

Now, this may not have actually happened to you the way I guessed, but it happens plenty, with scofflaw pedestrians and cyclists playing their parts in making the streets a shitshow.

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BromioKalen t1_j85a9xb wrote

Reply to So pedestrian crossings are sort of a suggestion here? by shrillbill

First of all welcome to JC. After 13 years of living here I have learned to walk defensively. Always expect someone is going to make a right turn into you while you are in the crosswalk, or just run a red light, or make a left to try to beat traffic without them noticing you. Don't walk with headphones on and always be scanning around you. It's just life here unfortunately. There is no traffic enforcement by the police and everyone that drives around here knows that and they do whatever the fuck they want. Even our city council people run over people here and get a slap on the wrist and stay in office.

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