STATE OF NEW JERSEY
214th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2010 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JON M. BRAMNICK
District 21 (Essex, Morris, Somerset and Union)
Assemblywoman LINDA STENDER
District 22 (Middlesex, Somerset and Union)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywomen Lampitt and Vainieri Huttle
SYNOPSIS
Requires motorists to stop for pedestrians in or waiting to enter crosswalks.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
An Act concerning pedestrians and amending R.S.39:4-36.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.39:4-36 is amended to read as follows:
R.S.39:4-36. a. The driver of a vehicle shall [yield the right-of-way to] stop for a pedestrian crossing or waiting on the adjacent curb to cross the roadway within a marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, except at crosswalks when the movement of traffic is being regulated by police officers or traffic control signals, or where otherwise [prohibited] regulated by municipal, county, or State regulation, and except where a pedestrian tunnel or overhead pedestrian crossing has been provided, but no pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close that it is impossible for the driver to [yield] stop. Nothing contained herein shall relieve a pedestrian from using due care for his safety.
Whenever any vehicle is stopped to permit a pedestrian to cross the roadway, the driver of any other vehicle approaching from the rear shall not overtake and pass such stopped vehicle.
Every pedestrian upon a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway.
Nothing contained herein shall relieve a driver from the duty to exercise due care for the safety of any pedestrian upon a roadway.
b. A person violating this section shall, upon conviction thereof, pay a fine to be imposed by the court in the amount of $100. The court may also impose a term of imprisionment not to exceed 15 days.
c. Of each fine imposed and collected persuant to subsection b. of this section, $50 shall be forwarded to the State Treasurer who shall annually deposit the moneys into the "Pedestrian Safety Enforcement and Education Fund" created by section 1 of P.L. 2005, c. 86 (C.39:4-3b.2).
(cf: P.L.2005, c.86, s.2)
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month after enactment, but the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission may take such anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of the act.
STATEMENT
This bill would require motorists to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks or waiting to enter crosswalks. Under current law, motorists must yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, but motorists do not have to yield to pedestrians waiting on the curb to cross a roadway.