REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK

On the foot or behind the wheel, Square

Streets not for the timid.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

By STEVEN LEMONGELLO

JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

It was when the firefighters began scampering in front of oncoming traffic, cups of
orange drink balanced precariously in their hands, that I realized that this section of Journal Square is absurd more than anything else.

The sometimes mad behavior of pedestrians at the intersections around Sip and Bergen avenues and Kennedy Boulevard, near The Jersey Journal, usually doesn't garner more than a second glance. Just once I wish I could drive to work without rounding a turn and finding a pedestrian blocking the way, shooting me a piercing look as if to ask what business I have driving a car on a street, of all places.

Or someone numbly wandering in front of my car who freezes up like a deer at the exact moment the light turns green.

Most of the time, the cars behind me then start honking, an apparent signal that I shouldn't let a mere thing of flesh and blood get in the way. And after awhile, I almost start to agree with them.

But standing there recently in the midst of it all, I began to sympathize with the hapless pedestrians. Kennedy Boulevard here doesn't resemble a city street as much as a cross between a highway and an ill-conceived go-cart track, with cars propelled like slingshots into the pedestrian crossings.

One attempt by the county to make peace between man and machine are the nine countdown devices at the traffic lights, which give pedestrians fair warning as to when the next wave of cars will come racing down the street.

Many believe it helps.

Jeanette Veniscofski, of Jersey City, says she "keeps an eye on it."

Bill McDonald, also of Jersey City, said he pays attention, but added: "I don't know if anyone else does."

One couple who arrived at the curb with the countdown still at 18, apparently misunderstanding, stopped and pressed the "push for crossing signal" button anyway.

And there are still some intersections, like Bergen and Sip avenues, where ignoring signals is the rule.

The wait to legally cross them both could take up to two minutes and 15 seconds, but after a minute goes by, the temptation to cross anyway is often too strong to resist.

By the time the "walk" flashes - for the briefest of moments - this previously law-abiding citizen is already on line at Dunkin' Donuts.

One man seemed the most typical of the frantic pedestrians here.

He stopped for a few seconds to explain that he pays attention to the signals most of the time, "except when I have a train to catch."

He then turned and rushed away, and never gave me his name.