Although it's tragic that he passed , it showed thorough police work on behalf of the cops with regards to the investigation. Condolenses to his survivors.

How many accidents have to end up like this before the police pay attention to something other than parking meters? Not saying it could have been avoided, but one has to admit there is an inordinate amount of people getting hit by cars. And I am aware of the high volume of traffic and the fact that many people don't adhere to the laws. Can there really be that many careless pedestrians and drivers in such a relatively small stretch of roads?

Question, why was he taken all the way to Hackensack, when Valley Hospital is right here in town?

Sad to hear of his passing in this now-fatal accident. Condolences to his family.

James' answer re HUMC is 100% correct. Read his link for more info.

Sad to hear. Condolences to Ron's family. I'd like to submit a petition to make Ridgewood Ave a one way street; with Franklin Av going the other way to complete the "loop". It simply makes sense and should have been done years ago.
Ridgewood Av is already featured as one of the "most dangerous roads for pedestrians" - http://www.northjersey.com/news/transportation/Study_3_NJ_roads_most_dangerous_for_pedestrians.html.
One death is one too many and could have been entirely avoided.

I like that idea of Ridgewood and Franklin Aves. changing to one-way streets. I wonder if this has been discussed at Village Council meetings. Also, higher voltage lighting at more CBD intersections would help visibility. Drivers really need to just slow down too.

R.I.P to Ronald Sarlo, who was a wonderful administrator at St. Joe's Hospital in Paterson years ago. Prayers are being said for his loving family.

One way streets. Its a good idea. Just call us Manhattan west. Addition to Valley makes even more sense since it will make our streets even more full. Let's face it, this man lived here 25 yrs. and if he chooses to cross in the middle then so be it, 25mph should be lowered to 15mph so people will stop hitting innocent people who are walking home!

One way streets and reduced speeds will not make it any better if the police choose not to enforce present laws.

Perhaps the county can be made to agree if the town commits? You can imagine the relief for both pedestrians and motorists if these thoroughfares were one-way. Even parking would be simpler.
Ridgewood Ave is cited in the detailed hazardous roads for peds report - http://www.northjersey.com/fortlee/Road_Warrior_Proceed_with_caution_at_these_pedestrian_pitfalls.html?page=all
"Other hazardous stretches include Essex Street in Hackensack from Arcadia Road to State Street, most sections of Cedar Lane in Teaneck, and Ridgewood Avenue in Ridgewood from Van Dien Avenue to Broad Street"
The map in the link cites the accidents all the way from Broad to Van Dien.

Obviously the system is NOT working!! Pedestrians at crosswalks are especially hard to see on dark, rainy nights. Installing stop signs at every crosswalk will force cars to stop and look for pedestrians.

Cars are hard to see when they come around a corner at the corner or street you are crossing. I know more people who have "almost been hit" or "hit by a car" than never hit by a vehicle. A vehicle according to law is a lethal weapon that utilizes blunt force-Now what parent in the world would walk anywhere knowing your children are playing in the street or sidewalks near their home w/ thousands of lbs of a lethal weapon along side their child...oh, sorry, it's the child's fault the car hit them. Our system doesn't work; it seems to work, but that's too easy. Harder than baseball and three strikes you're out; or, maybe it's just one "strike" and the person's lights are out? Which is it? i just can't figure out the "ol' ball game." Laws are for the living-to help us observe and respect the human "strikes" who don't make it.Sentimental about evening light or perhaps coming from work after dark; perhaps we should all start wearing white shoes, socks, overcoats, hats in winter and all dark clothes in summer? Ans. change the view from the car's driver-let them experience the family's grief. Just for a Dali moment you're stuck in time and frame. According to my darlin' Dali, that's amore forever. Change the law together, forever with MOMS(mothers of motorist scenes). ToniLee

Unfortunately, I see cars run the stop sign on Meadowbrook and Fairfield every day. Just ask any local resident. And downtown those large plants at the corners make it difficult to see if a pedestrian is standing or approaching there.

tragic! I am sorry for Mr. Sarno and his family, but my heart also goes out to the driver, what a horrible fate to drive into...

It appears that others can see that the police aren't enforcing the laws as well.

First of all my condolences to the Sarno family. I can't even imagine the pain of having your husband and father taken from you so suddenly. I don't understand the lack of urgency on the part of our elected officials and police around the issue of pedestrian safety in town. What other public safety issue has caused multiple deaths or serious injuries over the past few years. We can't have swings at playgrounds because someone could be hurt, but we tolerate multiple pedestrian stikes year after year.
James can you do an article listing all of the pedstrians that have been hit in Ridgewood over the past four years, and include the severity of their injuries and where the accident happened? Just off the top of my head I think that at least 2 people have been killed on or very near Franklin and one woman was very seriously injured. I think we need to make our streets safer now. The one way idea is interesting. Limiting access to some of the side streets from Franklin may also make it safer.

I have been saying for many years to make E. Ridgewood a one way street and Franklin Ave another one way street. This way pedestrians only have to look only one way. I would also make the speed limit in town 15 mph. In making the streets one way you could also add more parking spots. This also makes pedestrians exposed to shorter travel distances from curb to curb and less exposed to vehicles. All together this would reduce accidents and the degree of injuries while adding precious parking spots for businesses.

George Santayana 1952 said " Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it."

I could not agree more.

This is a sad sorry and there are probably a couple of factors that could have contributed to this terrible accident. One thing to note, knowing the location well, this street is prone to street lights that are repeated out including the street light right next to Stop & Shop's driveway. I am not aware if that street light was out at the time of the accident, however the accident does appear near it. Without blaming PSEG for this accident, I have to say their response to reported street light outages are horrible and some accident do occur where street lights were out (and been previously reported to PSEG with no action). Street lights may not prevent all accidents but may allow better sight for the driver and pedestrian.

Ron was an extraordinary man! He had a heart of gold. He was an angel on Earth and is now an angel in heaven.
This is not time to point fingers. It is time to find a solution!
I can say that Ron's family is beyond distraught. His daughter, Niamh, (pronounced neev,) cannot so much as let me drive her past TD bank and is now afraid to drive a car.
I find it distasteful to print that Ron was wearing dark clothing and was not in the crosswalk. No one in the police dept knows if he was in the crosswalk or not; they arrived after the accident. Ron was a big man, his ribs and sternum were just some of the bones broken in his body. His head trauma was so significant that he died from it. I think it is fair to say that those injuries indicate that his body was thrown out of the crosswalk. Also, there was a video of his body being rolled into the ambulance as his body made involuntary movements due to his head trauma. That was removed after Ron's daughter went to the Ridgewood Police Dept in disbelief and pain. Mayor Cronk was kind and went to Ron's home to personally apologize on behalf of The Patch to Niamh.
Respect should be paid to the Sarno Family. The driver of the car should be treated as innocent until proven otherwise. The police are not omnipresent or psychic; they did what they were supposed to do when they were called. Blame will not prevent the next casualty!

This is an incredible tragedy and agree that finger pointing is not appropriate and the driver should be considered innocent until the investigation is closed. When John Heuser was tragically hit 2 odd years ago it was by an idiot driver and the police issued a number of summonses on the spot but (unfortunately) it appears she got off easy. In this case a number of factors including street lights that keep going out played into this. It is not the fault of the police and a lack of RPD presence, it is an incredibly tragic accident.

There really is only one solution and it's a solution that many people do not want. The solution is traffic-light controlled crossings. They aren't 100-percent effective, as there will always be accidents due to drivers or pedestrians not stopping or going when they are supposed to. However, they completely eliminate the whole issue of "I didn't see him/her crossing" or the "he'she just marched out". As for those pedestrians that get hit outside of a crosswalk, there really isn't much that can be done about that, and the reality is that those accidents are actually quite rare.

What a sad story. But our town's commerce and careless pedestrians are also part of the problem . I frequently drive East on Godwin Ave. and as soon as I round the corner by MacMurphy's I see parents and their young children crossing smack dab in the middle of the road on their way to the newly-opened Carlo's bake shop. They park in train station lot across from Carlo's and do not use any of the crosswalks when walking across Godwin. The same goes for the pedestrian and vehicular traffic coming in and out of Whole Foods. What are these retailers doing to remind their customers of their reckless behavior???

And for a few weeks, put a cop there to issue warnings/summonses, too.

For those who unfairly blame the Ridgewood Police for pedestrian accidents, you should read the article in today's New York Times entitled "Is It Safe to Cross?" The very high risks involved in crossing the street are not limited to Ridgewood. Our Ridgewood police force has nothing to do with whether a driver or a pedestrian is careless. Here is the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/nyregion/after-a-spate-of-vehicular-deaths-is-it-safe-to-cross-the-road.html

Sad to hear of another incident. This is tragic for the pedestrian as well as the driver. Pedestrians need to use the crosswalks. I don't know how many times I have driven down Ridgewood ave and had someone just pop out from between cars. A lot of times it's mothers with kids. Please walk the few yards to the crosswalk where you will be safe. Why don't the police focus on the jay walkers once in a while

not sure how making E Ridgewood ave a one way will stop, decrease or prevent pedestrians from not crossing at crooswalks.

I think the police in this town do a good job, but I would like to see them nab more people for not stopping at a stop sign. You see it all over Ridgewood, especially people trying to make a left and ignoring either the crosswalk or oncoming traffic. Getting somewhere on time is not worth anybody's life people.

15 mph speed limit makes sense. Speed bumps will force cars to slow cars down. Although this tragic incident occured in the daytime, well lit crosswalks will encourage pedestrians to use them. And "yield to pedestrian" signs should be placed at all intersections. Not sure about making Franklin a one way street. I can see that being a speed zone where drivers have more room to speed around slower drivers.

My heart goes out to the Sarno family.. I cannot imagine their pain. I seriously don't understand how this is a driver issue and not a pedestrian issue. Cross in a crosswalk it's as simple as that. It's obvious by the lack of summons issued that the drive wasn't in the wrong.. It's time for people to take some personal responsibility and stop relying on 'big governnent' you can't put a light at every corner and a stop sign on every street. This was obviously an unimaginably tragic accident but a stop sign or a light in the middle of a side street wouldn't have prevented it.

And Ely's comment, "It's time for people to take some personal responsibility and stop relying on 'big government' you can't put a light at every corner and a stop sign on every street." isn't an obvious gross misinterpretation of my point?