Free Car Magnets: 'Stop 4 Pedestrians'

The Ocean City Police Department invites the public to pick up free bumper magnets that remind drivers to "Stop 4 Pedestrians @ Intersections."

The magnets can be attached to vehicles and are available at the following locations:

• The , 1735 Simpson Avenue.
• The , 835 Central Avenue.
• , 861 Asbury Avenue.

The magnets are designed to raise awareness of New Jersey's crosswalk law, which requires vehicles to yield to pedestrians at marked crosswalks and at intersections without traffic lights. A mix of drivers and pedestrians unfamiliar with the law creates a source of chaos and frustration in Ocean City, particularly during the summer.

The full text of the crosswalk law is as follows:

"The driver of a vehicle must stop and stay stopped for a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk, but shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, except at crosswalks when the movement of traffic is being regulated by police officers or traffic control signals, or where otherwise prohibited by municipal, county, or State regulation, and except where a pedestrian tunnel or overhead pedestrian crossing has been provided, but no pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close that it is impossible for the driver to yield.

Whenever any vehicle is stopped to permit a pedestrian to cross the roadway, the driver of any other vehicle approaching from the rear shall not overtake and pass such stopped vehicle.

Every pedestrian upon a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway."

The Ocean City Police Department worked in a community partnership with the Ocean City Free Public Library to create the magnets, which are funded through a 2012 Pedestrian Safety Community Outreach Grant from the library.