With fast-moving cars and a constant flow of tractor-trailers, Route 1 & 9 in Elizabeth has become notorious for traffic deaths. Pedestrians on foot only have about 45 seconds to get across seven lanes in one section or even 10 lanes in another.

The Department of Transportation knows how dangerous this area is so it has installed cameras and radar to help keep people safe. The improvements include 360-degree cameras, which are now in place high above three intersections - Fairmount Avenue, North Avenue and East Jersey Street.

They’re watching over every car and person trying to cross. Those cameras can see when there’s someone in the crosswalk and if needed, extend the red light keeping cars away.

There’s also radar, detecting a car’s speed as it approaches…and if necessary it’ll keep a pedestrian from getting a chance to walk.

“If they’re going too fast when it’s going to turn red, the radar will extend the red,” says Jaime Oplinger, with the Department of Transportation.

These are what the DOT calls “quick fixes.” Commissioner Francis O’Connell says these devices were tested along Route 129 in Trenton as part of a pilot program. He says crashes were reduced by more than half.

“Here I think it’s going to reduce traffic accidents. It’s going to help people cross so I think it’s going to work,” O’Connell says.

These intersections have proven deadly for some families.

Jose German-Munoz, 34, was on his scooter crossing at Fairmount when hit and killed by a car in September. Surveillance video showed that the driver ran the red light when crashing into Munoz at a high speed.

Ariel Rosas was crossing on his bike at North Avenue in August when he was struck and killed by a car trying to beat the red light. His was one of four deaths along 1&9 in a matter of three weeks over the summer.

Assemblyman Reginald Atkins says he hopes these improvements will prevent any further heartbreak for families. “This technology is important to the fathers who are walking kids to school. Important for the mothers who have their children in strollers trying to get across the walkway,” Atkins says.

O'Connell suggested pedestrian overpasses could be considered as part of long-term solutions.