Neptune special policeman asks skateboarders and bikers in Auditorium Square Park to leave. Paul Goldfinger photo. Left click to view full screen; then back arrow
July 11, 2012 by Blogfinger
Neptune special policeman asks skateboarders and bikers in Auditorium Square Park to leave. Paul Goldfinger photo. Left click to view full screen; then back arrow
Enforcement, or at least signage along our residential streets, would be a huge help. It’s called a sideWALK for a reason. Bicycles on the sidewalk are a menace to parents with small children and packages. My next door neighbor is just back from rehab for hip replacement. She shouldn’t have to dodge silent, zooming bicycles while struggling with a cane or walker from her porch to the sidewalk to her car. There’s so little space.
Local adults are the worst offenders. Told that it’s against the law to ride on the sidewalk, they shrug or get nasty and continue on their way. Teenagers seem to get it when you explain that there’s just not enough space — no big front yard — to see what’s coming, and that unlike skateboards, bikes at top speed don’t make noise. Most tourists move to the street when told. It’s the local adults who seem unable to behave responsibly. They simply say, “I live here,” as if that makes all the difference.
Crabapple
There’s nowhere to ride bikes period in Ocean Grove. I bought a bike in the beginning of the summer and have used it to ride to the beach just once, because it’s not worth it. We can’t ride on the sidewalks, but there’s no room to ride on the streets on weekends when there are cars on both sides.
Great to see the police in action like this. Hopefully the officer is on the boards after 6 pm to write tickets to the illegal bike riders.
Ridiculous…. Summer time is for going to the beach, taking a leisurely bike ride, strolling the boardwalk. I think there’s a time and a place for everything and we all need to share the road/walk/boards. This is going a little overboard….
Yes… judging from this picture there is a veritable crime wave in our town. I hope nothing trivial happens anywhere else in the eight square miles of Neptune.
Just curious–Are there that many bicycle-riding adults speeding by on the bumpy/crumbly sidewalks in OG? I don’t imagine the sidewalk bikers are doing this for kicks when one takes into account the BAD driving that comes with summer tourists (e.g., speeding, failure to stop at stop signs, driving the wrong way on one-way streets).
Looking at the pic, is the officer asking the kids to leave? Looks like kids just talking to other kids.
The officer had asked them to leave. Then the kids argued. Then the officer spoke more firmly, and then the kids began to turn to leave. That is when the photo was taken. The whole episode lasted about two minutes or less.
I agree that we need to have a compromise. I try to ride bikes with my kids and we try to stay in the streets, but sometimes we have to get up on the sidewalk or we will be in the way of a car. It is very difficult to have it both ways. I agree with an earlier post that the time on the boardwalk for bikers should be a little bit more convenient, that might eliminate some of the problem. Let’s face it, kids riding bikes in the summer is as American as apple pie. It is a shame they have to be shooed away for such a thing. Where else can they go???
While I have felt on several occasions that the quality of life complaints brought up by others in their comments are absurd, I’ve always felt that they have a right to their opinion. However, I’m compelled to respond to this one because of an incident that happened to me two years ago.
My then 5-yr-old son had just learned to ride his bike without training wheels and wanted to ride any chance he got. One day, while he was riding on the sidewalk along Central Ave., a lovely woman, who happened to be the only pedestrian on the block at that time, came upon us. I had my boy stop his bike to allow the woman to pass. As she walked by she chastised us, stating that he should be riding his bike in the street and not on the sidewalk. I immediately turned to her and calmly stated that the responsible action was to have the child riding on the sidewalk rather than out amongst motor vehicle traffic.
Yes. It seems that by not allowing bicycles on the boardwalk or on the sidewalks, basically bike riding is not permitted in Ocean Grove any longer because it is a little treacherous riding on the narrow roads in competition with the large amount of vehicles.
We all need to learn to share the road/sidewalks/boards. I have never seen anyone ride their bike unreasonably fast in Ocean Grove and feel that everyone needs to learn to get along and be respectful of one another. As far as I can tell, this should not be an issue and it has now become one.
Kind’ve sad if you ask me.
Heavy pedestrian areas like the boardwalk, Auditorium Square Park and the sidewalks on Main Avenue need to have bicycle and skateboard bans—it IS a public safety issue. Other areas in town can be debated.
A question if I may, why are the ‘yield to pedestrians in crosswalks’ signs removed at night on Main and on Ocean?
I just ride my bike in the middle of the street and now just let vehicular traffic lag behind me and beep their horns. It may take them two minutes longer to get to the beach, but they can see me, I am not on the sidewalk and they can no longer speed. When they get get mad I smile and wave. And yes, I live here!
Ogrover and Disney By The Sea have realistic “summer at a shore town” attitudes. On Main Ave. pedestrians have enough trouble getting around each other without adding bikes to the mix. Cars driving faster than a bicycle on Ocean Grove’s narrow streets are courting disaster at every intersection; the stop signs ignored as often as obeyed.
Twice I have barely had time to stop while driving on Broadway when a cyclist
riding the wrong way on a one way street darted out in front of me without even the least hesitation or slowing to check for traffic.
Another road hazard: groups of adult bikers riding after dark without lights or even reflectors. Laws or no laws…where is their common sense?
The Township put in a non-enforceable Ordinance for 2 reasons. An ordinance should indicate the fine (penalty) and who is enforcing the infraction. A local Municipal Court will only deal with juvenile matters for three reasons. One is truancy, another is smoking in a school building and the third one is any driving violations of a minor. All other juvenile matters go to a Juvenile County Court. Guess what, the County will not deal with any local ordinances. So even if the officer in the picture was to give a summons to these youth, where or what judge would it go in front of and what is the penalty or fine for this violation? Secondly, any public property that is considered in violation of the policy should have a sign posted with the ordinannce and penalty. I don’t think the Township Committee thought this out because there are no signs posted anywhere in town where this ordinance is in effect. Well, I guess it was all done so we can spend money on a skateboard park and not post the required signs around town. if an officer was to take a person’s roller blades, he also becomes responsible to take care of the individual. The Township Attorney should have known this. Keep an eye open for the posted signs or it can never be enforced at all.