An Exploration of Car Crash Trends in New Jersey
Middlesex County Leads The Garden State with the most Fatal Car Accidents of 2020.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 2020 alone, the state of New Jersey saw over 500 fatal car crashes. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there have been more than 500 fatalities by car accidents per year in New Jersey from 2016-2020
While the overall number of fatalities has remained relatively the same in recent years, Middlesex County specifically has quickly taken over as the county with the most deaths by car crashes.
Higher than all other counties, Middlesex County had 61 fatal car accidents in 2020 alone. This compares to 39 fatal accidents as the next highest amount, seen in both Burlington and Essex Counties.
Over the past five years, Middlesex County has been one of the leading counties in car accident deaths, as seen in the following chart.
However, Middlesex County does not have the largest population, the largest population density, or the largest area, which would typically be a possible contributing factor to the high density of car crashes.
According to a study by MoneyGeek, 40% of all fatal accidents that occurred in New Jersey from 2018 to 2020 involved drunk driving or speeding. Middlesex County was no exception from these trends, as 36 of all 151 fatal accidents in the county from 2018-2020 were drunk driving related, and 39 were speeding-related.
MoneyGeek also found that the I-95 was the deadliest road in the county, accounting for 15 of the fatal accidents from 2018-2020.
Despite this, the crashes in Middlesex County have been spread across the county. The following map marks the locations of all fatal crashes in 2020.
According to Thomas Fischer, a vehicle accident and injury attorney from New Jersey, a significant contributing factor to the spread of crashes in Middlesex County is likely the road design of the county.
“Middlesex County has the largest stretch of the New Jersey Turnpike of any county in the state, including one of the few sections of twelve lanes. Both the Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway intersect in Middlesex County, and are responsible for a large proportion of fatalities - most likely due to the increased speeds and volume. The New Jersey Turnpike authority does not quantify accidents by county, but it is clearly an important factor in the overall fatality rate on New Jersey roads.”
As Fischer has seen in his own practice, the age of drivers has also had an impact on the concentration of accidents.
“In addition, Middlesex County is also home to the largest concentration of population in East Brunswick and to almost 50,000 students at Rutgers University. Records show that young people are considerably more likely to be involved in serious accidents due to distracted driving. Every year, unfortunately, we see more young people involved in fatal accidents on New Jersey roads. It is certainly something that warrants further study.”
The complicated roads and distracted drivers in Middlesex County, among other factors, have made the county a dangerous hotspot for motor vehicles. As more people become affected by these crashes, it is important to look for solutions.
Sussex County, New Jersey has had some of the fewest fatal car accidents from 2018-2020, despite being about twice the size of Middlesex County in square miles. While Middlesex County had 25 distracted-driving-related fatal accidents between 2018 and 2020, Sussex County only saw 6 fatal accidents related to distracted driving.
In counties with larger, more complicated roads, like Middlesex County, it is imperative for drivers to only operate cars while fully concentrated. According to MoneyGeek, New Jersey ranks as the ninth worst state for distracted driving, despite the state’s distracted driving law, which prohibits drivers from texting or talking on cellphones while driving.
According to the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety,“Distracted driving is a dangerous epidemic on New Jersey’s roadways, being cited as a major contributing factor in nearly 800,00 motor vehicle crashes in the state from 2012 to 2016. Nationwide 3,166 people were killed in distracted driving crashes in 2017 alone.”
As more and more individuals and their families have become personally impacted by traffic safety in New Jersey, it is important to identify the problems that have contributed to the spike in fatal car accidents. In just one year, Middlesex county increased its number of deaths from car accidents by 20. This was the largest spike in fatalities in any New Jersey county since 2016.
In order to prevent spikes in fatal car accidents from happening across the state, it is important for drivers to be aware of the responsibility they hold when operating a vehicle. Being the most densely populated state in the United States, New Jersey has a high number of drivers occupying the same roads. For the safety of all New Jersey residents, it is necessary for all drivers to work together to make the roads a safer place going forward.