The streets of Barnegat have not been a safe place with a lack of sidewalks, lack of cut-outs, inadequate paving and no neighborhood playgrounds for children to play in. Citizens are forced to walk in the streets, and many times children have no other option than to play in the street.

The problem is cars -- especially in the downtown area -- use streets as shortcuts to beat lights. These cars travel at a ridiculously high speed to save a few seconds from their travel time while putting our children's safety -- and other pedestrians at risk.

The signs that are placed to help such as speed limit postings & "SLOW Children at Play", along with Radar Trailers do nothing to prevent speeders from racing in front of our homes which we all witness every day. What's most outrageous is that many of these people do this while talking on their cell phones...where is the enforcement of these laws? Well, hopefully the enforcement will come soon. The Township is thinking of starting a traffic safety unit that -- among its duties -- would make our streets safer by enforcing existing laws. Hopefully the result will be slowing down dangerous drivers.

Also, a big problem in the downtown area is vehicles fail to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. State law dictates this, and most other towns enforce this -- even putting up signs in the streets reminding drivers of the law. This does not happen in Barnegat -- a town that encourages foot traffic in our downtown historic area.

Since we must be very critical of the bad desisions that our town leaders have made over the past few years we must also praise them for doing the right thing. Starting this traffic safety unit is a good idea. We should support our police department so they can enforce the laws that protect us. GOOD JOB.