Mayor Marvin's Column: Traffic & Safety Laws Reminder

September seems like the opportune time to review Village laws relating to safety given that our streets and sidewalks are busy with returning students and residents.

The areas adjacent to all of the schools in the Village, including our nursery schools, are school zones with a 20mph speed limit. Our police officers are monitoring these areas with radar and unfortunately folks are speeding. In one four hour period, eleven tickets were written last week at one location.

Our police officers are also enforcing the no texting and no cell phone use while driving laws throughout the Village as well as the no idling law. Both the County and Village laws prohibit cars and buses to idle in wait for more than three minutes.

As a reminder, according to New York State law, sidewalks are for pedestrians and roads for vehicles. Our officers are noticing far too many joggers and even students walking to school in the road.  

Vehicle and Traffic Law, section 1156, states that “where sidewalks are provided and they may be used with safety, it shall be unlawful for any pedestrian to walk along and upon an adjacent roadway.  If sidewalks are not provided, pedestrians must walk only on the left side of the road facing the traffic.” I remind homeowners of the obligation to keep the sidewalk adjacent to one’s home in good repair. To encourage pedestrians to use sidewalks, Village staff will be inspecting properties and the condition of the sidewalk and issuing violation notices where necessary. 

Bicycles may be ridden on sidewalks throughout the Village if the rider is under the age of 11. However, no one can ride bicycles or skateboards on the sidewalks in our two business districts. 

Please remember to cross only at corners. While convenience is tempting, it does not mean it is safe. A particularly dangerous crossing is from the library parking lot to the gym entrance of the school. There are no curb cuts or crosswalk markings here in an effort to discourage crossing in mid-traffic. 

During school construction we made accommodations here, perhaps not wisely, because other entrances to the school building were closed. They were meant to be temporary in nature. There is a crosswalk 300 feet away with a traffic control device and not too far down the street, Theresa, our crossing guard, helps with safe passage.

Some residents have inquired about adding pedestrian walk signs at the Pondfield Road/Midland Avenue intersection. The current light system is so antiquated that it cannot take any upgrades. According to New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law, to add walk buttons would require a configuration similar to that recently installed at the intersection of Kraft Avenue and Cedar Street which some residents have found unattractive. It would also cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. It has been looked at many times in the past.  However, the Trustees and I will again review the data associated with that corner, mindful that safety has to be our number one priority.

As a refresher, the following are some rules governing pedestrian “right of way” in crosswalks according to the Vehicle and Traffic Law of New York State. 

“When a pedestrian is in a marked crosswalk, cars must yield in both directions.” However, “no pedestrians 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 impractical for the driver to yield.” It is important to remember that a crosswalk is not an extension of the sidewalk and pedestrians must exercise judgment before stepping off a curb. When crossing in mid-street, “every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk shall yield the right of way to all vehicles upon the roadway.” 

The streets around the Bronxville School are busiest at drop-off and dismissal times so you may want to arrange errands accordingly.  The and day beings at 7:50AM and ends at 2:45PM. The day commences at 8:30AM and also finishes at 2:45PM. The approximately 20 minute period around these times brings many cars to Midland Avenue, Pondfield Road and Meadow Avenue.

The busy times in town at our eateries for student lunches are between 11AM and 11:40AM and 12:10PM to 1PM.

Speaking of the business district, we are very mindful of the numerous “crossing a double yellow line” infractions and are increasing enforcement. It is important to note that our parking enforcement officers are not police officers and cannot stop cars for this violation.

Finally, as the leaves begin to come down, we ask that you keep them out of the roadways. Most communities have a fine for this but we continue to rely on your good judgment. Wet leaves in roadways have caused accidents and they also easily migrate to our drain, clogging the sewers.

If you have suggestions how to make our Village safer, please e-mail me at mayor@vobny.com.