Won’t having a Quiet Zone make it more dangerous for people who walk on the tracks?
As stated above, an engineer will always be able to blow the horn in any emergency situation. When MidTown Direct service commenced in 2002, the Public Transportation Advisory Committee coordinated the production and distribution of rail-safety literature and was instrumental in having NJ Transit conduct a rail safety program in Montclair schools. Recently, a task force composed of police, fire and school officials, working with the Public Transportation Advisory Committee and the Township’s communications director, was formed to address train safety issues. For the decades that Montclair’s 7 PM-to-7 AM whistle ban has existed, it does not appear to have been cited as a contributing cause to a fatality or other accident on the rails. Nonetheless, it must be emphasized that walking on the tracks, with or without a Quiet Zone, is behavior that should be strongly discouraged. (It is also illegal; Montclair ordinances prohibit trespassing on rail property, and violators can be ticketed). C
