Crossing street, woman, 64, is latest victim of dangerous stretch of Hackensack road

ANOTHER PEDESTRIAN DEATH: Hackensack police closed Polifly Road, above and below, on Sunday night to investigate after a woman, 64, was struck by an SUV as she tried to cross the street. She died at the hospital.

  

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK -- The victim -- a 64 year-old woman -- was struck by a Cadillac Escalade on Polifly Road, near Mary Street and Route 80, around 8:30 p.m. Sunday night, police said.

She was later pronounced dead at Hackensack University Medical Center, police said.

The driver, 65, also of Hackensack, remained on the scene, but no summonses were immediately issued.

Lillian J. Holmes

On March 4, 2021, Lillian J. Holmes, 81, died after she was knocked down by a hit-run driver and struck by a second vehicle, which stayed on the scene, as she crossed to the CVS on Polifly Road -- designated as a county street.

There are no crosswalks or warning signs for pedestrians or drivers along a 6-block stretch of the 4-lane Polifly Road between Essex and Lodi streets, and at night the street is dark from the lack of lighting.

No changes were made by Bergen County or PSE&G after Holmes death, which the county Prosecutor's office says remains unsolved.

Public information

Hackensack police refused to release any information to me, a former reporter at The Record of Hackensack and author of The Sasson Report.

A police supervisor referred me to the Daily Voice, which didn't identify the woman who was killed.

Crosswalk without a warning sign proved deadly to woman, 76, out for a daily stroll

JINXED CROSSWALK: None of the 4 crosswalks on Passaic Street and Summit Avenue in Hackensack -- including this one on Passaic Street, used by Carol A. Ventura before her untimely death on May 13, 2021 -- have "Walk/Don't Walk" signs or any other warning to alert pedestrians about turning vehicles from Summit Avenue, like the Tesla I photographed yesterday, above. 

 

She was hit by one vehicle, 

then run over by a trailer

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- When a 76-year-old woman set out for her daily late afternoon walk in her neighborhood two weeks ago, she didn't stand a chance as she stepped off the curb at dusk and into a crosswalk on Passaic Street at Summit Avenue.

Not only are the crosswalk stripes non-reflective, faded or missing, but there is no lighted sign warning pedestrians like Carol A. Ventura it is unsafe to walk as vehicles on Summit get a green arrow and turn onto Passaic Street and into the crosswalk she was using.

That late afternoon walk on May 13 proved to be Ventura's last as first a pickup truck turning onto Passaic from the Summit Avenue turn lane hit her and knocked her down shortly after 8:30 p.m., police said.

Then, a second driver, like the first, said he didn't see the woman, and she was run over by a landscaping trailer his vehicle was pulling.

Ventura, who had retired recently after 25 years as a sales administration manager at E.T. Browne Drug Co. in Englewood Cliffs, died a short time later at the hospital.

She lived not far away in The Pierre Apartments on Prospect Avenue in Hackensack.

No 'Walk/Don't Walk' signs

None of the 4 crosswalks at the busy intersection of Summit Avenue and Passaic Street -- in Hackensack's Fairmount section -- have "Walk/Don't Walk" signs.

The intersection has long been cursed by drivers on narrow, 2-lane Passaic Street -- a major artery leading to Maywood, Rochelle Park and Paramus -- because there are no turn lanes for vehicles on Passaic at Summit Avenue.

The street dates to the Revolutionary War, and the intersection, maintained by Bergen County, would look more at home in an underdeveloped country.

NO WARNING OF TURNING VEHICLES: The second crosswalk on Passaic Street at Summit Avenue, above, has no sign to alert pedestrians they should look out for cars or trucks turning into the street from Summit Avenue.

No help for pedestrians 

Pedestrians also are sitting ducks on Polifly Road in Hackensack, where a 3-block stretch with a busy CVS Pharmacy on one side of the 4-lane street and an apartment building on the other side lacks crosswalks or traffic lights.

On March 4, 2021, Lillian J. Holmes, 81, of Hackensack died after she was knocked down by a hit-run driver in a black SUV, and struck by a second driver as she was crossing the darkened street to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy.

Polifly Road is another street "maintained" by Bergen County.

June 4 services

Services for Carol A. Ventura. who turned 76 on April 13, one month before she was killed, will be held on June 4 at G. Thomas Gentile Funeral Home at 397 Union St. in Hackensack.

A celebration of her life will take place at Nanni Ristorante in Rochelle Park.

"Carol had been embracing her retirement and looking forward to spending more time with her cherished companion" -- identified as William J. Gaynor -- according to her obituary.

Ventura grew up in North Bergen, earned a bachelor's degree at Montclair State University and became a school teacher.

Read her full obituary on the funeral home website: 

Obituary of Carol A. Ventura

READ: Yet another careless driver 

is getting away with running down a pedestrian

Yet another careless driver is getting away with running down a Hackensack woman

ANOTHER VICTIM: Carol Ventura, 76, was in a crosswalk when she was struck by one vehicle, then run over by a landscaping truck's trailer last week not far from her home in The Pierre Apartments on Prospect Avenue in Hackensack, below. She died at the hospital.

 

A second pedestrian is killed

crossing the street at night

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- No criminal charges will be brought against the driver of a pickup truck who ran down a 76-year-old woman in a crosswalk on Passaic Street at Summit Avenue, police said.

On May 13 shortly after 8:30 p.m. -- described as "dusk" --  a second driver didn't see Carol Ventura lying on the pavement, and she was run over by a landscaping trailer his vehicle was pulling.

She was pronounced dead a short time later at Hackensack University Medical Center, according to news reports.

Ventura was at least the second pedestrian killed crossing the street in Hackensack since March.

Poor street maintenance and the absence of pedestrian safety measures are issues in both deaths. 

Hit-run death

On March 4, Lillian J. Holmes, 81, of Hackensack died after she was knocked down by a hit-run driver and struck by a second driver as she was crossing a darkened Polifly Road, between Sutton and Marvin avenues.

She was going to pick up a prescription at a CVS Pharmacy, family members said.

There is no painted crosswalk, traffic light or adequate street lighting where the hit-run crash occurred, even though there is an apartment building on one side of the 4-lane street leading to Route 80 and a busy pharmacy on the other.

The Fatal Accident Investigation Squad of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office still hasn't found the driver of the black BMW X-5 SUV that hit Holmes first before fleeing. The second driver stayed on the scene.

The deaths of the women are two more examples of drivers who kill pedestrians, but never face serious charges, and of streets -- many of them maintained by Bergen County -- that lack crosswalks, proper lighting, reflective crosswalk stripes or walk/no-walk signs.

In effect, many pedestrians are sitting ducks.

READ: Penalties for killing a driver 

don't act as a deterrent

Confused news reports

News stories from the Hackensack Daily Voice and Patch said Ventura, the victim, "had the right of way," quoting Hackensack Police Capt. Nicole Foley.

But in a story that also appeared on the front page of the weekly Hackensack Chronicle, the clueless Joshua Jongsma of NorthJersey.com, The Record's website, quoted police as saying "they do not believe Ventura had a walk signal or the right of way when she crossed."

As the photo below clearly shows there is no walk/don't walk signal for the crosswalk the victim used.

Capt. Foley quoted an unidentified Rochelle Park man, 42, who was driving the pickup that first hit the woman, as saying he didn't see her.

That driver might face a traffic summons for failing to yield or stop for a pedestrian, and 2 points on his license. 

The second driver, a 51-year-old Paramus man, also said he didn't see the victim. He also wasn't identified.

"From 2010 to 2020, 14 pedestrians were killed in Hackensack, records show, including three last year," NorthJersey.com reported, but there was no mention of whether any of the drivers faced serious charges.

FADED PAINT, MISSING WALK/DON'T WALK SIGNAL: According to news reports, Carol Ventura of Hackensack was in this crosswalk on Passaic Street "shortly after 8:30 p.m." on May 13, 2021, when she was struck by a 2021 Dodge Ram pickup truck turning from southbound Summit Avenue, like the white sedan in this photo taken a few days later. The crosswalk paint is faded, and likely hard to see at night, and there is no don't walk sign to warn pedestrians about turning vehicles, which get a green arrow before the traffic light on Summit turns green.