News
Pedestrian Struck By SUV On Broad Street - Victim in critical condition
By John Burton
RED BANK - Police are investigating a traffic incident that a left a pedestrian hospitalized after she was struck by a sport utility vehicle while crossing Broad Street near E. Bergen Pl. on Monday afternoon.
Alla Tsiring, 44, a Staten Island, N.Y., resident, was crossing Broad Street from west to east at the East Bergen intersection at approximately 2:25 p.m. when she was struck by the SUV.
According to Captain Darrell McConnell, a police spokesman and traffic safety officer, the SUV was turning left at East Bergen on to Broad. Tsiring was crossing in the designated crosswalk when the incident occurred, according to the spokesman.
Borough resident Diana Palma, 37, was identified as the SUV driver, according to police.
Police this week issued two summonses to Palma, for failure to yield to a pedestrian and for careless driving, McConnell said.
Tsiring, who works at a business office in the area, was transported by ambulance to Riverview Medical Center, and was taken later by helicopter to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune.
As of Wednesday, Tsiring remains in critical condition, McConnell said.
According to McConnell, the incident is still under investigation and police are requesting anyone with any information call the department at (732) 530-2700.
Last December a vehicle struck a crossing guard on Maple Avenue and Peters Place, west of Broad Street. Last month, a vehicle hit a pedestrian as he walked on Newman Springs Road near South Bridge Avenue, McConnell said.
For a busy urban area, "You encourage people to walk," McConnell said. "At the same time it does raise some safety issues."
Jim Willis, Harrison Avenue, has been working with borough officials and fellow parents on a program intended to encourage people to walk in the approximately 1.7 square mile community. Last October Willis held a gathering at the local Middle School to discuss his Red Bank Safe Routes initiatives, seeking to get support from officials for pedestrian - especially school children - safety.
There are some within his network who advocate stepping up enforcement, or even discouraging people, especially children, from walking in some busy traffic areas. But for Willis, who said he walks and cycles regularly around the community, the answer is to, "get people to realize, 'this is a pedestrian town and when I come into Red Bank I'm going to look out for pedestrians and cyclists.'"
