Township approves roadway-safety resolution; police outline stepped-up enforcement, resident urges speed-limit changes after child�death

Egg Harbor Townshipapproved a consent-calendar resolution that includes support for the state100 Deadliest Days2 traffic-safety awareness campaign and heard from the local police chief that traffic enforcement will be increased over the summer.

The police chief (first referenced as Chief) told the township committee the departmentand county partners have increased traffic enforcement this year and that May enforcement was about 13% higher than the same month last year; he said that enforcement corresponded with a reduction in reported traffic crashes. "Traffic enforcement reduces overall traffic crashes and fatalities," the chief said.

The chief described participation in a pilot task force organized with the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office that will deploy officers from multiple jurisdictions for targeted enforcement and said the township is working to acquire more speed trailers, including units that record speed data so staff can target enforcement by time of day. He also urged fellow officers to model lawful driving behavior, saying visibility and consistency by police matter for public credibility.

The committee approved the consent calendar (resolutions 270through301), which the mayor said included resolution 294, the roadway-safety/100-deadliest-days endorsement; roll-call votes were recorded in the meeting minutes and the chair declared the measures approved. Committee members praised coordination with the county prosecutor's office and the local police.

During public comment, resident David Cherry of the 7200 block of Fernwood Avenue described the recent death of a child in his care and asked the township to consider reducing the speed limit on parts of Fernwood Avenue and to install four-way stops near a park and other traffic-calming measures. "There's a lot of children that ... have nowhere for them to walk," Cherry said, asking the committee to study lowering the posted speed or adding four-way stops.

Township officials and the police said they would investigate the Fernwood Avenue request and review applicable traffic-engineering rules and statutory speed-setting procedures; the chief and staff noted that certain speed changes require engineering studies and formal regulatory steps. The committee did not adopt any immediate traffic-order changes at the meeting.

Sources: Remarks by the police chief to the Egg Harbor Township Committee; resident public comment by David Cherry; consent-calendar vote recorded in meeting minutes.