Full Notification

The South River Police Department has launched our new “Slow Down in Our Town” program, aimed at slowing down motorists throughout the borough. The program fosters a partnership between police and residents, working collaboratively to place high visibility lawn signs and a vehicle speed display trailer on borough streets, followed up with targeted speeding enforcement by police officers.

Residents and motorists can expect to see the signs on borough streets in the coming months. The signs, designed to catch the attention of drivers, feature silhouettes of families and children walking and at play on a bright yellow background.

Studies have shown that when signs are left in one place too long, drivers eventually begin to ignore them. For this reason, the signs are moved to a new location after being in place for approximately one week. Police officers then conduct targeted speeding enforcement on the street after the removal of the signs.

“If you drive the same route on a routine basis and something changes, you’ll notice it. That’s the goal of these signs - to catch the driver’s attention and have them realize they may be going too fast.”, Police Chief Mark Tinitigan said.

He adds that although officers conduct enforcement for speeding and traffic violations daily, there is a need for innovative traffic safety programs.

“A lot of the complaints we receive from our residents are for speeding in residential areas.”, he says. “Every day, officers patrol our streets and stop as many speeding drivers as they can, but there’s only so much we can do ourselves. That’s where the community/police partnership plays a role with participating residents allowing us to place the signs on their lawns.”

The initial schedule of locations for the “Slow Down in Our Town” program has been compiled based on streets that the South River Police Department has identified as areas of high speeding through the number of summonses previously issued and concerns voiced by residents. After this list is completed, the program is planned to continue with future schedules of additional streets.
 

• 10/24/2022 until 10/30/2022 – Virginia Street
• 10/31/2022 until 11/6/2022 – Prentice Avenue
• 11/7/2022 until 11/13/2022 – Main Street (near Devoe Street)
• 11/14/2022 until 11/20/2022 – Burton Avenue
• 11/21/2022 until 11/27/2022 – William Street (near Belmont Avenue)
• 11/28/2022 until 12/4/2022 – Kamm Avenue (near David Street)
• 12/5/2022 until 12/11/2022 – Leonardine Avenue
• 12/12/2022 until 12/18/2022 – Charter Drive
• 12/19/2022 until 12/25/2022 – Johnson Place (between Willett and David)

• 10/31/2022 until 11/6/2022 – Virginia Street
• 11/7/2022 until 11/13/2022 – Prentice Avenue
• 11/14/2022 until 11/20/2022 – Main Street (near Devoe Street)
• 11/21/2022 until 11/27/2022 – Burton Avenue
• 11/28/2022 until 12/4/2022 – William Street (near Belmont Avenue)
• 12/5/2022 until 12/11/2022 – Kamm Avenue (near David Street)
• 12/12/2022 until 12/18/2022 – Leonardine Avenue
• 12/19/2022 until 12/25/2022 – Charter Drive
• 12/26/2022 until 1/1/2023 – Johnson Place (between Willett and David)

If you reside on one of these streets and would like to be involved in the “Slow Down in Our Town” program through the placement of a lawn sign in front of your residence, please complete the online form at the link below.

nj-southriverborough.civicplus.com/FormCenter/Police-Department-7/Slow-Down-in-Our-Town-55

Statistics for the program will be updated weekly and can be found by visiting southriverpd.org/slow-down-in-our-town