Silver Alert: Road Warrior gets lost in search of a theme

Digital signs have appeared on Cedar Lane in Teaneck, above and below, stating the 25 mph speed limit and warning drivers going faster than that, "You are speeding." Meanwhile, it has been many months since I've seen a Teaneck officer with a radar gun manning a notorious speed trap at Pomander Walk and Cedar Lane that targeted drivers crossing the Anderson Street Bridge from Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Why is Editor Marty Gottlieb of The Record running a front-page column on drowsy truckers -- if the problem is on the decline -- and not targeting all types of speeding and aggressive driving?

And why entrust this column to the addled John Cichowski, the reporter who has peddled so much misinformation in the guise of the Road Warrior (A-1)? 

Today's column is pegged to the chain-reaction crash involving a Walmart tractor-trailer driver who hadn't slept in "more than 24 hours" and a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter limo bus carrying comedians Tracy Morgan and James McNair (A-4). 

The June 6 crash on the New Jersey Turnpike knocked the luxurious limo bus on its side, killing McNair and sending Morgan to a hospital in critical condition with a broken leg and other injuries.

But Cichowski's column ranges far afield, despite the main headline:

"Threat from trucks and

sleepy drivers on decline"

The graphic on Page 1 is for "New Jersey road deaths involving trucks," apparently from all causes, including sleepy drivers, speeding and aggressive driving, but none is specified.

Cichowski also expands the column to include all drivers who are drowsy or fall asleep, including a "dozing minivan driver" who crashed into Maggie McDonnell's sedan, killing her way back in 1997 (A-7).

But still needing to fill space, the burned out reporter discusses a 1998 crash involving a "40-ton tractor-trailer" with faulty brakes that crashed into a big SUV on Route 17 in Paramus, killing a Saddle River surgeon and his mother in law (A-7).

Still, that wasn't enough. He includes a tour bus accident on the Garden State Parkway that killed eight in 1998, admitting "it, too, did not appear to involve drowsy driving."  

So, why is it included in the column? Maybe, Cichowski's editors should issue a Silver Alert for the confused reporter.

Meanwhile, The Record and other media have ignored the low safety rating of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter limo bus that carried Morgan.

Weak story

Another front-page story today appears to sugar coat the Tea Party, which is made up of radical, mean-spirited Republicans who are anti-immigrant and just about everything else, including taxes of any kind (A-1).

Staff Writer John C. Ensslin make Susan and Joel Winton -- founders of the West Bergen Tea Party -- sound like kindly grandparents.

But if you plow through this whitewash, you find out the Wintons have lost it, claiming their experiences doing business in communist Czechoslovakia "is one of the reasons we are passionate about saving our country" (A-6).

Forced busing

On the Local front today, Staff Writer Karen Rouse had to be dragged kicking and screaming to cover a hearing on delays and service problems faced by commuters returning to North Jersey from the antiquated Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan (L-1).

Rouse, who has written almost exclusively about NJ Transit train operations, buried the lead, reporting that a Port Authority executive promised relief from terminal crowding by 2020, if the agency gets a $230 million federal grant it has applied for (L-2).

Rouse also had a Page 1 story today on the unveiling of NJ Transit's new disaster strategy after Superstorm Sandy caused $120 million in flood damage to rail cars and locomotives stored in low-lying yards (A-1).

Ignoring readers

The Better Living cover story on "five winning dishes" from Korean restaurants in North Jersey offers little to readers who don't meat, who are diabetic or who are watching their weight (BL-1).

All but one of the dishes reflect Staff Writer Elisa Ung's twin obsessions with meat or sweet, artery clogging desserts (BL-3).

There is no mention of such non-meat classics as japchae (translucent noodles) or soft-tofu stews served so hot you can cook a fresh egg in them.