By Steve Strunsky | NJ Advance Media

With the start of school adding countless students, parents and others to the morning rush hour on foot or on wheels, transportation officials reminded the public to obey the rules of the road and pointed to data demonstrating the effectiveness of simple signs in enhancing safety at intersections.

Members of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, a federal safety board, joined local officials in Asbury Park last week to kick off the latest local edition of the NJTPA's Street Smart NJ campaign, a statewide initiative launched in 2013 and intended to promote traffic and pedestrian safety through signage and stepped-up police enforcement.

“Pedestrian safety is a top priority in Monmouth County every day, but it’s especially important as students return to school...,” said Monmouth County Freeholder Director Thomas A. Arnone, an NJTPA board member.

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(North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority)

The NJTPA gauges the effectiveness of the Street Smart campaigns by using video cameras to record motorist and pedestrian behavior at key intersections before and after traffic safety signs are installed. The behaviors observed include whether pedestrians cross at the crosswalk, and whether motorists yield to pedestrians when making a turn, and stop properly at a stop sign or traffic light. For example, did a car roll through a stop sign or make an illegal right on red?

The program's last round of observations, in 2016, involved eight key intersections in eight communities in the 13-county area where the NJTPA has jurisdiction, When comparing rates before and after the signs were installed, the intersections saw a 28 percent reduction in pedestrians crossing outside of a crosswalk or against the light, and a 40 percent drop in drivers failing to yield to pedestrians or cyclists in a crosswalk, according to a report by the NJTPA on the 2016 campaign.

The eight communities were Elizabeth, Jersey City, Metuchen, Newark, Passaic, Red Bank, Toms River and Woodbridge.

The intersections were chosen as key locations within their respective communities, with sufficient automobile and pedestrian traffic volumes and accident histories to make them like to benefit from added safety measures, the report said.

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The eight intersections surveyed in 2016 by the Rutgers Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation within the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority's 13-county jurisdiction. Shading darkens with increased population density. (Rutgers CAIT)

Eight key intersections

The NJTPA has contracted with the Rutgers University Center for Advanced Infrastructure Technology to analyze the data from that and past Street Smart campaigns. The center's deputy director, Professor Patrick Szary, said there was no doubt that traffic safety signs work if installed properly and kept up to date.

"Proper use of signage can greatly improve the safety of an intersection," Szary said in an email. "However improper placement of signage, i.e., too close to the intersection or hidden behind a tree, can lead to problems. Drivers need time to identify the sign and then react accordingly, so proper placement and distance is very important."

"At the same time," Szary added, "overuse can lead to drivers' ignoring stop signs — rolling stops — or getting confused. Trees grow, populations shift, stores are built, etc., changes in the environment and behavior. Looking at crash locations allows engineers to go back and make improvements to enhance safety at an intersection."

In a few instances, behavior seemed to worsen after signs were installed, though Szary said that was likely the result of variables the researchers could not control, including weather, particularly in lower-traffic areas where the sample size was relatively small.

The following is a list of the eight intersections observed during the 2016 Street Smart campaign, with data on compliance with traffic safety laws at each intersection before and after signs were installed. The data as contained in a report by the Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation.

While the report itself provided figures for the percentage of occasions when pedestrians and motorists failed to comply with the law, in other words, bad behavior, NJ Advance Media adapted the percentages to reflect compliance -- how often people did the right thing.

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Main Avenue and Monroe Street, Passaic (Google Maps photo was color-enhanced)

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Broad and Market Streets, Newark (Google Maps photo is color-enhanced)

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Sip Avenue and John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Jersey City. (Google Maps photo was color-enhanced)

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Broad Street and Elizabeth Avenue, Elizabeth (Google photo was color-enhanced)

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Main Street and Eleanor Place, Woodbridge (Google Maps photo was color-enhanced)

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Main Street and Woodbridge Avenue, Metuchen (Google Maps photo is color-enhanced)

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Broad and Front streets, Red Bank (Google Maps photo was color-enhanced)

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Washington and Robbins streets, Toms River (Google Maps photo was color-enhanced)

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Rob Spahr | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.