Burlington County's Crackdown On Rt. 130 Yields Positive Results
By David Madden
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's been a year since police in Burlington County began a crackdown on drivers and walkers on route 130, where 20 pedestrians were killed along the highway over a six year period.
Since "Operation 130 Safe Passage" began, the number of pedestrian deaths on that 22 and a half mile stretch of highway has dipped to zero.
Much of the credit goes to Burlington County Sheriff Jean Stanfield, who obtained a $225,000 federal grant to cover better police enforcement for an 18 month period.
"Officers are working outside of their own jurisdictions through a shared services agreement and the grant is reimbursing all the officers' overtime costs so that no town is footing the bill for this."
Police in 11 towns wrote over 3,500 tickets and warnings and, yes, some of them went to pedestrians who failed to use crosswalks.
Stanfield is applying for another $100,000 to keep the program going after the initial grant runs out in the fall.