Pedestrian error playing a big part in deadly NJ crashes

🚶🏽‍♂️ Police keep track of pedestrian actions ahead of crashes

🚶🏽‍♂️ Pedestrian error is a top contributing circumstance in fatal collisions

🚶🏽‍♂️ Pedestrian deaths dropped from 2021 to 2022

A wrong move by a pedestrian played a role in more than 150 fatal crashes in New Jersey in 2022, according to New Jersey State Police statistics released at the end of last year.

Behind intoxication and driver inattention, "pedestrian violation" was the third-most cited contributing circumstance in fatal collisions on New Jersey's roads in 2022, the report shows.

In total, 191 pedestrians lost their lives on New Jersey's roads in 2022. That's down from 217 in 2021.

Eighty-five of the pedestrians who were killed had been crossing the street away from an intersection. Six were crossing at an unmarked crosswalk, and nine were traveling in the street, as opposed to a sidewalk, when the fatal crash occurred.

Many pedestrians involved in fatal crashes were crossing the street at a marked crosswalk, but the report suggests they were not following the rules (crossing against a "do not walk" symbol, for example).

The report does not indicate whether a pedestrian violation was the primary cause of a crash — a collision could be the result of multiple contributing circumstances.

"What we all need to remember is that we are all pedestrians," Tracy Noble, spokesperson for AAA Mid-Atlantic, told New Jersey 101.5. "We're all walking somewhere at some point, even in a parking lot. And we need to be mindful of how we interact with vehicles when we are pedestrians."

Of the pedestrians killed, 152 were tested for alcohol. Close to a third tested positive for alcohol consumption.

"There's a shared responsibility for all that use the road," Noble said.

In 2022, 646 fatal crashes resulted in 689 deaths in New Jersey, according to the latest NJSP report. Preliminary numbers suggest the number of fatal crashes dipped to 582 in 2023.

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