When Governor Phil Murphy signed landmark legislation on July 17, 2025, to strengthen driver education and improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety, it wasn’t just lawmakers and transportation advocates standing proudly beside him, it was the voices of the students. For the youth of Burlington City High School and West Orange High School, this victory was the result of testimony to help pass this legislation.
Burlington City’s Student Advocates Fight for Safer Roads
For years, generations of students from Burlington City High School have been powerful voices for safer streets in New Jersey. Commitment to pedestrian safety began after the loss of Antwan Timbers, a 17-year-old student who was hit and killed while crossing Route 130, a highway that runs directly in front of the intermediate and high schools. In the wake of his death, students didn’t stay silent. Instead, they organized, testified, and partnered with advocates to push for change. Their work helped lead to the passage of Antwan’s Law in 2016, which lowered speed limits and added signage and safety improvements along the school zones on Route 130. Read Antwan’s Law here
Sadly, their community has continued to experience the impact of traffic violence. In December 2024, Bruce Morlack, a crossing guard known for his dedication to students and families, was struck and killed while helping children cross Jacksonville Road outside Burlington City High School. Just weeks earlier, another crossing guard, Robert Bork, was killed in High Bridge, highlighting how vulnerable those working to protect students are every day. These tragic events reinforced the urgent need for stronger protections and reminded everyone that the fight for road safety is far from over.
In 2024, Burlington City became part of the Nikhil Badlani Foundation Youth Advisory Board, joining a growing network of students committed to traffic safety advocacy. Motivated by recent tragedies in their community, Burlington City students didn’t hesitate to act. In the months before the bill signing, they worked alongside peers from the Nikhil Badlani Foundation Youth Advisory Board (YAB) in West Orange to advocate for a new law that would fill a critical gap in New Jersey’s driver education system. Though Burlington City and West Orange sit at opposite ends of New Jersey, students from both high schools came together with a shared purpose. Together, they pushed for legislation requiring all new drivers to learn how to safely share the road with people walking, biking, and using mobility devices, ensuring the next generation of drivers is better prepared to protect the most vulnerable road users.
Speaking Out in Trenton
In the spring of 2025, representing the Badlani Youth Advisory Board, students from both high schools traveled to Trenton to testify before the State Legislature in support of S4146/A4765, the bill focused on improving driver education around pedestrian and cyclist safety. Their voices were not only powerful they were personal, urgent, and impossible to ignore.
Watch a clip of their testimony here: Instagram Reel: Burlington & West Orange Students in Trenton
These students spoke from experience. They shared stories about nearly being hit in crosswalks, about friends and neighbors who no longer felt safe walking or biking in their own communities, and about the heartbreaking loss of local lives. But they also spoke with conviction and optimism, making it clear that change was possible and necessary.
Their message was straightforward: New drivers need to be taught how to navigate streets where pedestrians and cyclists are present. With fatalities on the rise and traffic violence becoming all too common, the current system wasn’t doing enough. The students called on legislators to fix that to ensure that future drivers are trained to be more aware, more responsible, and more respectful of all road users.
Their testimony helped turn the tide. It brought urgency to the bill, rallied community support, and played a key role in pushing the legislation over the finish line. Just a few months later, those same students stood proudly at Maplecrest Park in Maplewood, as Governor Murphy signed the bill into law, a moment that validated all of their hard work and advocacy.
A Law Shaped by Youth Leadership
The newly signed law, S4146/A4765, marks a major step forward in how New Jersey trains and educates its newest drivers. It now requires that all driver’s education programs and written exams include specific guidance on how to safely approach and pass pedestrians, bicyclists, and people using mobility devices like wheelchairs and scooters. Drivers will also learn about the real consequences, both legal and physical, of failing to share the road responsibly. These updates ensure that safety for vulnerable road users is no longer an afterthought, but a central part of the driver education experience.
Read the full press release from the Governor’s Office
This law builds on other important efforts, including the Safe Passing Law and the Target Zero Commission, which is working to eliminate all traffic deaths in New Jersey by 2040. This law marks a powerful step toward safer streets by addressing a critical gap in driver education. What makes it especially meaningful is that it was driven by the leadership of student advocates from West Orange and Burlington City—mobilized through the Nikhil Badlani Foundation’s Youth Advisory Board. Launched by the Foundation to develop the next generation of traffic safety leaders, the YAB played a pivotal role in organizing and advancing the legislation. That impact continues to grow: in the 2025–2026 school year, the Nikhil Badlani Foundation is expanding the Youth Advisory Board to five schools statewide, empowering even more students to lead the charge for safer streets.
Burhaan Khurram Speaks Out for Safer Streets
At the bill signing event, Burhaan Khurram, an incoming senior at West Orange High School and Vice President of the YAB, delivered powerful remarks on behalf of all youth advocates. His speech captured the emotion, clarity, and urgency that fueled this campaign:
Speech by Burhaan Khurram, West Orange High School
Delivered at the Bill Signing for S4146/A4765 – July 17, 2025. Printed with author permission.
“Good afternoon everyone. I hope you’re all doing well today.
My name is Burhaan Khurram, and I am an incoming senior at West Orange Public High School and a member of the Nikhil Badlani Foundation Youth Advisory Board. A board that empowers students to use their voices to advance traffic safety through education, advocacy, and community action. Since its inception in West Orange in 2018, the board has expanded to include schools such as Burlington City High School and is set to grow to five participating schools in the upcoming academic year. In that time, we’ve helped advocate for meaningful changes, like the 50hour supervised driving requirement, a major step not only in road safety, but in making our voices heard; such change made possible in large part by the leadership of the Nikhil Badlani Foundation founders Sangeeta and Sunil Badlani, along with the efforts of many others committed to making our roads safer.
Thanks to this ongoing work, I had the opportunity to speak in Trenton a few months ago to express my support for Bill S4146, alongside fellow advocates from Burlington City High School, some of them here today. And now, again, I am privileged to stand here as we celebrate this bill being signed into law.
Back when I first testified, I said that our driver education system in New Jersey did not adequately address this responsibility, and that this education gap had real consequences – consequences you could see in the way many drivers behave. That is still true in many ways, but today, because of this new law, we are taking a major step toward fixing it.
Just a few days before I testified, I was on my way to pick up my younger sister when I saw a car speed up, trying to race me to a crosswalk so it wouldn’t have to stop. Regardless of my presence on the crosswalk, the driver didn’t stop, deciding their time was more important than my safety. Experiences like that are exactly why this bill matters.
And it’s not just pedestrians. Speaking personally, I often ride my bike in certain parts of New Jersey, and I know firsthand, like many of you bikers here today may also know, how dangerous it can be. There are stretches of road where I’m constantly glancing over my shoulder, wondering if the next car speeding by will give me enough space – or even notice I’m there at all. We’ve already lost far too many lives to crashes between drivers and cyclists. Last year alone, 23 bicyclists were killed on New Jersey roads. Behind each number is a family, a circle of friends, and a community left grieving.
When you look at our driver education materials, you can begin to see the root of this issue. Our NJ driving manual spans 162 pages across nine chapters, but only five of those pages – tucked into a single chapter – cover how to share the road with others. It’s no surprise, then, that by the end of 2024, nearly 4 out of every 10 people killed in crashes here in New Jersey were pedestrians or cyclists, despite them being only a small fraction of those on or near the roads.
With this new law, we take a step toward change. By including comprehensive training and testing on these issues, we have the chance to reduce tragedies, to protect pedestrians and cyclists alike, and to build a safer, more responsible driving culture in New Jersey.
This bill doesn’t just provide information – it prevents unnecessary injuries and fatalities. I am proud to have been part of the effort to support it, and I thank everyone who made this signing possible.
On behalf of the Nikhil Badlani Foundation Youth Advisory Board in West Orange, I thank all of you for making New Jersey safer for everyone, whether we walk, ride, or drive.
Thank you”.
Watch and Learn More
Full Livestream: VIDEO: Gov. Murphy Signs New Pedestrian/Cyclist Safety Bill in Maplewood – The Village Green
Press Release: Office of the Governor | Governor Murphy Signs Legislation to Increase Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety
Youth Advisory Board Info: Youth Advisory Board – Nikhil Badlani Foundation
Crossing Guard Safety and Training info: NJcrossingguards.org
Looking Ahead
The passage of S4146/A4765 is a major milestone, but New Jersey’s student advocates are just getting started. Their lived experience and community leadership remind us that traffic safety isn’t just about roads, it’s about people.
From Route 130 and Pleasant Valley Way to Trenton, from crosswalks to classrooms, youth leaders across the state are making their voices heard and shaping a safer future for all.