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Students issued fines for jaywalking on Washington Road

On Feb. 28, police officers from the Princeton Police Department were stationed around Terrace Club to issue warnings to students who jaywalked across Washington Road. 

This isn’t the first time or the only road on campus where students have been penalized for jaywalking.

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Students have been fined for jaywalking in other parts of campus, such as the crosswalk on Alexander Street between Forbes College and the Lewis Center for the Arts. 

Obiageri Amaechi ’21 was on her way to turn in a chemistry problem set when she was stopped by members of the Princeton Police Department. 

“I was very surprised,” Amaechi wrote in an email. “I did not know there were penalties from the Princeton Police Department for jaywalking on campus. I had always assumed that you would only encounter Public Safety officers rather than Princeton police while on campus.”

Warnings can come with a standard $54 fine. Amaechi said that she could either pay a $54 fine or be issued a summons. She chose to pay the fine.

“I think that the first time, officers should let students off with a warning. If they’re caught again they should be fined,” Zoya Shoaib ’20 said when asked about her reaction to the police fining students for jaywalking.

On Feb. 28, the Princeton Police Department had focused specifically on Washington Road, issuing warnings to students between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. as students commuted to class. 

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“The enforcement and education program that we have with the community is part of our regular and ongoing pedestrian safety campaign,” Lieutenant Chris Morgan of the Princeton Police Department said. 

In October, a cement truck struck and killed a woman as she was walking across a crosswalk at the Washington Road and Nassau Street intersection.

In the aftermath of the accident, the town of Princeton appealed to the New Jersey Department of Transportation in October of 2017 to take steps to make crossing the intersection safer, according to centraljersey.com

Specifically, the town requested that “all pedestrian scramble signals” be installed. Such signals work by stopping all traffic with a red light so that pedestrians can cross using a green light. 

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“I think jaywalking is a big issue with students because we assume that we are always safe being that we are insulated within Princeton’s campus,” Amaechi said.