Route 35 (Photo: Daniel Nee)
Police will conduct an enforcement operation targeting both drunk drivers as well as drivers who do not follow the state’s pedestrian crosswalk laws along Route 35 in the island’s Brick Township portion this weekend. The operation will also include a sobriety checkpoint.
“It is so very important for drivers along the entire length of the Route 35 beach road to use an extra measure of caution due to the constant summer foot and bike traffic,” said Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato.
The prosecutor’s office has organized the detail and checkpoint, which will also include local police. The program’s design “creates a force multiplier” by regionalizing and supplementing local DWI enforcement, a statement from the prosecutor’s office said. The detail comes as a “proactive measure to slow people down and influence responsible driving along this stretch of roadway” known for high pedestrian foot traffic during the busy summer season.
Inattentive and aggressive drivers are always targets of law enforcements’ regular patrols, the statement said, but the purpose of this effort is to “detect, educate, deter, arrest, and vigorously prosecute impaired drivers,” while also making Ocean County roads safer for the added pedestrian traffic. The program targets those under the influence of alcohol, but will also pay close attention to those not yielding to pedestrians and bike traffic.
The checkpoint program, which is funded in part by the Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders and the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, will be conducted by local police agencies in conjunction with Detectives from the Prosecutor’s Office and Sheriff’s Department K-9 Unit focusing on both intoxicated and drug impaired drivers. The program is operated/coordinated by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Vehicular Homicide Unit under the direction of Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Michael Weatherstone.
Police, Fire & Courts
Seaside Park Police Blotter: Family Phone Drama, Riding on Rims, ‘Canoodling’ In A Car
Police, Fire & Courts
Toms River Man Drops Gun in Point Pleasant Beach Church, Lands in Jail
