A week after a mother and her 5-year-old were struck by a car at Tuscan Road and Boyden Avenue outside Seth Boyden School, parents and residents spoke at the Maplewood Public Safety Committee requesting changes to the street and intersection, and Township officials committed to keeping corners covered by guards or police officers.
“It’s likely if the crossing guard were there, we wouldn’t be having this discussion tonight,” said Committee Chair Victor De Luca, noting that neither a crossing guard nor a police officer was present at the time of the accident — 3:49 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 3 — when the corner should have been covered until 4 p.m.
Nikky Abernathy and her son, who were walking in the crosswalk, were hit by a car turning from Boyden onto Tuscan. Abernathy was treated on scene by EMTs and then transported by friends to a local hospital. The mother of four young children is healing from sprains, bruising and stitches — but did not suffer broken bones. Her son suffered minor injuries. The driver was issued three summons by police.
At the Sept. 10 Public Safety Committee meeting, parents and neighbors presented ideas and thanked De Luca and Committee members for listening and working to improve the corner.
“It’s something we’ve been working on since I’ve been on the Township Committee for the past nine years,” said Mayor Nancy Adams. “I really appreciate some of the ideas and comments … for slowing the traffic down.”
Seth Boyden parent Nina Essel suggested speed humps on Boyden, noting that they are used on other busy streets in the towns including Scotland Road in South Orange.
Township Committee member Deb Engel followed on Essel’s idea and suggested a raised intersection or “table” — a solution that has been implemented at intersections on Prospect Street near St. Joseph’s Church.
A Seth Boyden mother named Erin and her 4th grader Henry appeared on camera. Erin said her son witnessed the incident and is now “fearful to walk alone.”
Courtney Magahis, appearing with her two children, asked for a crossing guard and more signage at Newark Way and Boyden — “With Artie’s there, there’s a lot of traffic there.”
Area resident Jesse McGowan, who works in transportation planning and is an owner of Pallet Brewing on Newark Way, suggested speed studies and speed reductions strategies including adding all-way stop control.
Abernathy also spoke: “What happened to my son and I obviously should not have happened. I recognize that there’s been a lot of work, Vic, to your point to solution this. And I just want to echo everyone’s sentiments here. I don’t think the work is done yet. I think that there’s still so much more to be done.”
She added that “the traffic patterns are chaotic and scary. My son is incredibly scared. There’s going to be some time that we need to work through that and process through that. We made our first drive to school together and parked and walked this week, and there were a lot of lingering questions and worries and anxieties that came up from him.”
“Thank you so much for all the work that you’ve done here,” Abernathy continued. “I’m so sorry that what happened to us did happen. I’m so grateful that it wasn’t worse. As Nina mentioned, I have three other kids. We have kind of a crazy house. We have a 5-year-old, a 3-year-old, and twin 1-year-old girls. And if I had been there with all four of them, I just don’t feel confident that the safety precautions are set up to take care of us and make sure that we are safe. … If police presence is what is slowing traffic down, great. Can we commit to that? If it’s speed bumps that are going to slow traffic down, great. Can we commit to that? What more needs to be done from the community members other than showing up to these meetings here to make sure that this doesn’t happen to someone else?”
De Luca talked about changing the configuration in front of the school on school property. He said that past South Orange-Maplewood School District administrations weren’t cooperative in discussing the topic but that he looked forward to working with new Supt. Jason Bing.
Adams said, “I want to thank everyone for coming out. I’m glad you realized that we take this seriously because we do.” Adams pointed to De Luca’s work chairing the Engineering, Public Works and Planning Committee, and then struck a personal tone. “I’ve raised a few kids of my own, so I know how traumatic that must have been and I’m sorry you had to go through that and hopefully you’re healing …. but we’re working on it and I really appreciate some of the comments and ideas with regard to some things we can also look at … with your regard to slowing traffic down.”
Township Administrator Patrick Wherry reported that new high intensity beacons or crossing lights were in process. “The current standard that we use when we’re looking to put in upgraded crossing pedestrian signals are rapid flashing beacons,” said Wherry. “They’re brighter. The light strobe is lower overall, it’s more visible.” Due to expensive nature of the signs, said Wherry, the bidding process has been onerous with bids coming in over the limit and needing to be rebid. However, Wherry said, “In the meantime, as you alluded to earlier, Mr. DeLuca, we have directed the township engineer to improve the existing flashing pedestrian signs to the great extent possible.”
