Who thought it was a good idea to propose changing to one way traffic on Maplewood Ave in the village?

notupset said:
It is not worth discussing this with people who think it is a good idea.   Whoever thought it up and pushed it through are dopes.   I have dealt with Township government before here and it is a waste of time.  I live close enough to town I can walk any time I need to.   I really just want to know who came up with this, rather than just assume it is the entire town government that is clueless.   

 So, you can't be bothered to go to the meeting where this will all be discussed. What a shame. I have no idea, at this point, whether it's a good idea or a bad one, but I would be most willing to listen to others. Obviously, your mind is 100% closed.

notupset said:
It is not worth discussing this with people who think it is a good idea.   Whoever thought it up and pushed it through are dopes.   I have dealt with Township government before here and it is a waste of time.  I live close enough to town I can walk any time I need to.   I really just want to know who came up with this, rather than just assume it is the entire town government that is clueless.   

You have an opportunity to learn more and express your thoughts directly to the town. 

notupset said:
It is not worth discussing this with people who think it is a good idea.   

As if it would be more worth it to discuss it only with people who agree with you?

So why did you start this discussion?

Dennis_Seelbach said:

 I have no idea, at this point, whether it's a good idea or a bad one, but I would be most willing to listen to others. Obviously, your mind is 100% closed.

 That's my position. I don't know if it's a good idea or a bad idea until I know what the details are. 

All of Maplewood Ave. in the village should be one way north to south. It would eliminate the entitled a**hats who make illegal left handed turns into the right angled parking spots!

There is definitely a traffic safety problem in general. I don’t think the solution is to create new potentially confusing (thus worsening) rules when the main problem is that so many drivers are simply blatantly disregarding the existing ones without consequence.

There seems to now exist (and for some time) a new free-for-all driving culture which is most apparent in the village. I’ve discussed this with numerous residents. Can’t tell if it is derived from just so many new residents, so many visitors from elsewhere with no respect or just so many more cars period (plus everybody seems to be in a crazy hurry with a short fuse).

I think what may be worth trying for at least a time, -is a strident visible campaign of enforcement so that perhaps a reputation of “getting caught” comes into play as a deterrent.  Even just a month might do it.

I now find myself NOT going to the village simply because it has become so aggravating.

I also now find myself thinking something that I never thought before, -“Gee I wish I was a cop, because I would definitely give that azzhole a ticket”.

I believe most of the problem comes from people wanting a parking space in an area where the number does not satisfy the need. Then there is the question of prime parking vs. parking a couple of blocks away from where you are heading. Millburn alleviated some of this with a parking deck.

Maybe deck the space across from the post office or behind the theater.

I wish the search for close parking was the only culprit. Frankly, we may as well take down all the one way, no left turn parking, yield to pedestrians and the speed limit signs if they just continue to be so widely ignored or enforced.

steel said:
I wish the search for close parking was the only culprit. Frankly, we may as well take down all the one way, no left turn parking, yield to pedestrians and the speed limit signs if they just continue to be so widely ignored or enforced.

 it's this. 

I've had too many close calls as a pedestrian in the village. 

Is there a list of proposed changes being discussed at the meeting on the 31st?  For my money the greatest accident waiting to happen is the intersection at Maplewood and Jefferson. I’ve been living here for five years and marvel at the mass confusion there. Wondering why not add a four way stop?

Re: The intersection at Maplewood and Jefferson:

That has actually been discussed at length in the past and the biggest argument AGAINST a four-way stop is the steep approach from the high side of Jefferson. -Considered often difficult for cars approaching from that side to stop in a timely manner and especially likely for the possibility of the next car coming over the rise to rear-end the one (or two) already sitting there.

The "mass confusion" is because people can't seem to read or pay attention to the signs that declare it is NOT a four-way stop.

steel said:

The "mass confusion" is because people can't seem to read or pay attention to the signs that declare it is NOT a four-way stop.

Or fail to follow the rights of way. Twice in the last two weeks, I’ve entered the intersection from the hill, signaling a left turn and stopping to let the driver coming uphill proceed through the yellow light, only to have him stop. This strands me in the intersection, blocking Maplewood Avenue traffic, because I can’t be sure he’s going to remain stopped. A wave of my hand gets things going again, but only after unnecessary confusion.

That makes sense @steel about sudden stopping coming down that hill. There must be some solution though. If that many drivers are confused by the signage, it’s the signage or the traffic rules that need updating. 

So it is too difficult or impossible for the police to enforce the laws we currently have? I know we live in a high crime area, where the police force cannot spend time in the village, but perhaps a few months of strict enforcement in town would pay off with safer, more law abiding drivers and we wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel and pay for the dumb changes proposed and add another level of inconvenience to life.   PS  - Folks how turn left into parking spots in town should be 100% certain they are not taking a spot someone else has lined up AND that they are not holding up folks behind them.   If there is no one to inconvenience, especially at odd hours, I don't think they are as*hats, just law breakers who should be adding to the municipal coffers when they are caught, in my humble opinion.  

DaveSchmidt said:

Amstel said:
Making Maplewood Ave 1 way on that stretch would definitely make the interesection of Maplewood and Baker safer as cars heading towards Millburn would only have the option of going left or right (assuming the 1 way traffic flows south). This should allow cars at the stop sign on Baker to “cheat” a little further out into the intersection and improve their sight line with less risk.

I’m not following. Where would drivers have only the option of turning right or left if Maplewood were one way from Baker toward Lenox?
If I’m reading the proposal correctly, the NJT lot would switch from an entrance at Baker/Maplewood to an exit, adding yet another point to watch for traffic coming into the intersection. Or am I getting it wrong?

 Dave, I am with you. I don't understand either.  Maybe a round about would be better.

bigorangesplotmpwd said:
That makes sense @steel about sudden stopping coming down that hill. There must be some solution though. If that many drivers are confused by the signage, it’s the signage or the traffic rules that need updating. 

 Never bought into this...this exact traffic pattern exists on Wyoming over the tracks to the light at Glen at the bottom. 

notupset said:
So it is too difficult or impossible for the police to enforce the laws we currently have? I know we live in a high crime area,

 Maplewood is not a high crime area.

The parking enforcement people are not allowed to ticket moving vehicles.  They watch those many vehicles a day that make illegal left turns in order to park in the village.......and can do nothing.

Expand their mandate...............writing 15 tickets a day for a month will make a real difference

Basically a simple pain free solution...........except for the offenders

Baker x Maplewood Avenue is without doubt one of the worst intersections in town.  The STOP sign northbound on MA has helped some, but it is still an intersection to be avoided (I usually come down Lenox and turn left on MA, so I can make a right on Baker).

However, the proposed changes sound like the best way to make it worse!

I'm curious how many police officers people think are on patrol at any given time in either of our two towns. There are always calls for better enforcement but think of the size of Maplewood.

And ml1 is correct ... this is hardly a high crime area.

the way people are driving in the village, it lays bare the fact that compliance with laws is largely voluntary.  The rules of the road don't work because of fear of being caught by the police, because the police can't possibly witness everything on all of our roads.  The biggies like driving on the correct side of the road are adhered to out of self-preservation.  Same with stopping at stop lights and stop signs.

But driving the correct way on a sleepy village street like Inwood or driving the wrong way through the Ricalton parking lot, or not yielding to pedestrians?  Not that dangerous for the driver at 15 MPH.  And they probably figure other drivers and pedestrians see them coming and get out of the way.

We count on all of us to be courteous, considerate and mind the rules of the road.  And increasingly in Maplewood village, people are not doing so.  I'm not sure what the answer is.  It certainly can't be to put a couple of cops in the village patrolling all day long.  And changing the traffic patterns won't work if people aren't paying attention to the laws anyway.  

I guess the best advice is for those of us obeying the laws to be more careful and vigilant. Because the entitled people aren't deterred by one-way signs or no parking signs or stop signs now.  It's not likely that they'll pay attention to new ones.

Back to the thread title.  The idea to make Maplewood Ave one-way on the block going towards the post office, with the NJT parking area being used for traffic the other way, had a "first person to think of it".  Who that is, doesn't really matter.  I'm sure that more than one person has had that thought.

There's nothing wrong with formally getting public input on whether that makes sense.  Instead of "who thought", the better discussion is, "Status quo, or change the traffic flow?"

ridski said:

notupset said:
Does anyone know of a pedestrian who has been injured by a car in the village?

Yeah. I helped someone cross Maplewood Ave once because she was scared of getting hit a second time. That was before they reduced the speed limit, though. 

 So lots of near misses aren't enough? We need actual accidents and injuries to justify any changes?

yahooyahoo said:

ridski said:

notupset said:
Does anyone know of a pedestrian who has been injured by a car in the village?

Yeah. I helped someone cross Maplewood Ave once because she was scared of getting hit a second time. That was before they reduced the speed limit, though. 

 So lots of near misses aren't enough? We need actual accidents and injuries to justify any changes?

 Is this in response to my post?

ridski said:

yahooyahoo said:

ridski said:

notupset said:
Does anyone know of a pedestrian who has been injured by a car in the village?

Yeah. I helped someone cross Maplewood Ave once because she was scared of getting hit a second time. That was before they reduced the speed limit, though. 

 So lots of near misses aren't enough? We need actual accidents and injuries to justify any changes?

 Is this in response to my post?

 In response to notupset's post.

Perhaps it is time for citizens to become pro-active in the manner of a Neighborhood Watch.

What would happen if any one of us seeing a Parking or Moving violation took a picture of the vehicle and its License Plate and forwarded that to the Police? A citizen can sign a Complaint. It does not have to be an Officer. The problem is that if the motorist contests the ticket the Citizen may have to appear to testify. 

I am going to continue thinking about this. 

yahooyahoo said:

yahooyahoo said:

notupset said:
Does anyone know of a pedestrian who has been injured by a car in the village?

 So lots of near misses aren't enough? We need actual accidents and injuries to justify any changes?

 In response to notupset's post.

 In that case...

LOST said:

What would happen if any one of us seeing a Parking or Moving violation took a picture of the vehicle and its License Plate and forwarded that to the Police?

 Not a damn thing. 

The best plan I can think of --- put a cop on foot in the village. Just two or three times a week. Write a couple of tickets. The income from the tickets will pay for that cop.

Then put one of those mobile signs " # tickets were given out this week."

LOST said:
Perhaps it is time for citizens to become pro-active in the manner of a Neighborhood Watch.
What would happen if any one of us seeing a Parking or Moving violation took a picture of the vehicle and its License Plate and forwarded that to the Police? A citizen can sign a Complaint. It does not have to be an Officer. The problem is that if the motorist contests the ticket the Citizen may have to appear to testify. 
I am going to continue thinking about this. 

 I'm going to be thinking about the enraged motorists coming after me if they see me taking a photo of them committing a violation.

Formerlyjerseyjack said:

LOST said:

What would happen if any one of us seeing a Parking or Moving violation took a picture of the vehicle and its License Plate and forwarded that to the Police?

 Not a damn thing. 

 Why? If you witnessed a robbery or an assault and called the Police would they ignore it?