Beginning August 20 and running through September 6, police officers will conduct saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints, looking for motorists who may be driving while intoxicated.

“There’s simply no excuse to drink and drive,” Fischer stated. “The decision to get behind the wheel after drinking can change not just your own life, but the life of your family, your friends, and everyone who is on the road with you. Even one drink can impair your judgment and reaction time, creating a potentially deadly situation.”

Fischer noted that last year in New Jersey, 185 people were killed as a result of alcohol-related crashes. That number represents 31 percent of the 583 traffic fatalities reported in the state in 2009. In addition, 67 of those alcohol-related fatalities occurred during the summer travel season.

The Division of Highway Traffic Safety offers the following advice to ensure a safe summer travel season for those who choose to drink alcohol:

• Take mass transit, a taxi or ask a sober friend to drive you home.
• Spend the night rather than get behind the wheel.
• Report impaired drivers to law enforcement. In New Jersey, drivers may dial #77 to report a drunk or aggressive driver.
• Always buckle up, every ride, regardless of your seating position in the vehicle. It’s your best defense against an impaired driver.
• If you’re intoxicated and traveling on foot, the safest way to get home is to take a cab or have a sober friend or family member drive or escort you to your doorstep.

The Law Offices of Garces & Grabler would like to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday weekend.

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Known as “Cops in Crosswalks,” the federally funded initiative places undercover police officers, posing as pedestrians, in marked crosswalks. Motorists who fail to stop for the undercover officers are stopped and issued warnings or tickets by uniformed officers a short distance away. The Division will be providing federal grants of $8,000 each to 13 police departments for the program, which will run from mid-July to mid-September. In addition, towns receiving year-long pedestrian safety grants from the Division will also participate in this initiative, which has been run in towns throughout the state for the past two years.

Fischer noted that the initiative will also help to reinforce New Jersey’s pedestrian safety law, which was amended on April 1, to require motorists to stop and stay stopped for pedestrians in marked crosswalks. Prior to the change, motorists were required to yield.

“By changing the language in the state’s 50-year old pedestrian statute from yield to stop, motorists now know that when they approach a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk, they must stop and remain stopped to allow that pedestrian to cross safely,” Fischer stated. “The law also makes it unlawful for a vehicle to overtake or pass another vehicle that is stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross. It also infers that a motorist is at fault when there is a conflict between a vehicle and a pedestrian in a crosswalk.”

Pedestrians must also do their part under the amended law. “It’s a pedestrian’s responsibility to take due care when crossing the street,” she said. “That means that a pedestrian should never suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the roadway, where it is impossible for a motorist to stop. Pedestrians must also obey all traffic signs and signals, including ‘walk/don’t walk.’ If a pedestrian does enter the roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or at an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, he or she must yield the right of way to all motor vehicles.”

Motorists violating the law face a $200 fine, plus court costs, and 2 points on their license. They can also be subject to 15 days of community service and insurance surcharges. Pedestrians failing to comply with the law face a $54 fine, plus court costs.

The towns and townships participating in the Cops in Crosswalks program are:

Linwood, Northfield, Burlington City, Medford Twp, Cherry Hill, Collingswood, Vineland, Monroe Twp, New Brunswick, Piscataway, Red Bank.

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We understand this is a weekend of celebrations. If you are choosing to drink alcohol this weekend, we encourage you to have a designated driver with you to ensure you make it home safely and to ensure that you do not endanger other people’s lives who are on the roads.

If there is no designated driver, we encourage you to spend the night within walking distance of where you are celebrating.

More information about DWI/DUI in New Jersey can be found at our website.

However, if you have had the misfortune of getting pulled over and are charged with drunk driving, contact a DWI/DUI defense attorney in New Jersey immediately. Seven convenient law offices: Trenton, New Brunswick, Newark, Elizabeth, Perth Amboy, Freehold, Plainfield.

Cops in Shops is a program designed by the Century Council, a national not-for-profit organization funded by distillers. Under the program, local police officers work undercover in participating retail locations. Law enforcement officials either pose as store employees or are positioned outside the establishment to apprehend adults who attempt to purchase alcohol for underage drinkers.

Last summer, 211 people were arrested through the Cops in Shops summer program. This summer, 31 Shore police departments are participating in the Cops in Shops program, with approximately $61,000 in funding provided by the Division of Highway Traffic Safety.

In addition, 27 police departments, as well as the Gloucester County Prosecutors’ Office, are running year-round Cops in Shops programs and/or Undercover Operations beginning this summer, using funding provided by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Penalties for underage drinking include stiff fines and the loss of a driver’s license for six months.

If you have been affected by a lapse of judgment and need an attorney, contact the attorneys at Garces & Grabler for an experienced defense attorney in New Jersey. Seven convenient law offices: Trenton, New Brunswick, Newark, Elizabeth, Perth Amboy, Freehold, Plainfield.

Click here to read the rest of this article and for more Garces & Grabler success stories.

Many New Jersey motorist are finding out firsthand that New Jersey has gotten serious about cracking down on the dangerous and defiant use of hand-held cell phones while driving.

Text-messaging and using other electronic devices such as BlackBerries while driving have also been banned on New Jersey roads.

The ticket is $130. That can be an expensive conversation you may not soon forget. Also don’t think that it’s okay to talk on the bridge between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It turns out Delaware River Port Authority police can enforce either state’s laws anywhere on their bridges, spokeswoman Danelle Hunter said.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers having phone conversations are four times as likely to have an accident – even with hands-free devices.

Pam Fischer, director of New Jersey’s Division of Highway Traffic safety says, "You’re still distracted… You stop scanning the road, and you stop scanning the mirrors. You have tunnel vision."

Her advice: Those who choose to call while driving should "do it hands free" and "make it as quick as possible. ""Hang up and get back to driving, which is the only thing that you should be doing when you’re behind the wheel."

If you still don’t have a hands-free head set for driving, it may be a good idea to get one. It’s got to be cheaper than a $130 ticket and it’s safer, as well. So like the Doors song says, "keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel."

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer.

If you have a driving violation in the state of New Jersey we can help. Call the New Jersey Law office of Garces & Grabler at: 888-455-1549 or contact us

Legislators are proposing two laws that would eliminate uniform speed limits on rural highways in New Jersey.

The first law, proposed by Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow (R-Hunterdon), the split speed rule would require trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds, as well as those hauling hazardous materials, to slow down by 10 mph, to 55 mph. According to “Land Line”, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association’s (OOIDA) official publication, this is the fourth attempt to pass this law in recent years.

New Jersey Assembly Bill 2415, also proposed by Ms. Karrow, would require speed limiting devices on all trucks entering the state set at 68 mph.

Source: Today’s Trucking: NJ debates speed limiters, split speed rule 5/29/08