New study shows NJ most deadly state for just crossing a street

Picture it. 2:30 a.m. earlier this month. In the dark, dead of night, you’re driving on Route 1 in Edison. You have an upcoming green light and at the last second as you’re cruising along you see a figure in the darkness. A man crossing Route 1 against the green.

There’s an accident. You’ve hit a pedestrian and he’s killed. Tragic for both in that you have to live with this image for the rest of your life.

It’s the scenario police say played out on January 8. The driver was cooperative and never charged.

No matter whose fault it is the sad fact stands that pedestrian fatalities are on the rise in New Jersey. In fact, according to a study done by High Rise Legal Funding New Jersey has the deadliest roads in the nation for pedestrians being struck and killed.

So what’s going on?

They examined data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s fatality analysis reporting system (FARS) to find the most dangerous time of day for pedestrians as well as the percentage of pedestrian fatalities in each state.

Of all vehicular accidents resulting in fatalities 30.3% of victims were pedestrians in the Garden State. Compared to the national average of 17.3% that’s truly shocking.

What surprised me even more is 16% of all pedestrian fatalities occur at intersections. So almost 1 in 6 pedestrians killed are being struck where we have stop signs and traffic signals. This shouldn’t be happening.

Why is it then?

A disproportionate 31% of all of New Jersey’s pedestrian fatalities are occurring in just the last three months of the year. That could indicate both darkness falling earlier as well as alcohol involved in holiday celebrations.

Also NHTSA is not letting cell phones off the hook. Whether in the hands of drivers or pedestrians they believe it’s contributing to the high numbers. Since 2012 pedestrian fatalities have increased by more than 53%.

While we know New Jersey is the deadliest state to cross a street, here’s the full top ten of states with the highest percentages of roadway fatalities being pedestrians.

1
New Jersey
30.3%

2
Hawaii
26.6%

3
California
25.9%

4
New York
25.3%

5
Alaska
23.9%

6
Maryland
23%

7
Florida
21.9%

8
Delaware
21.3%

tie 9
New Mexico
21.2%

tie 9
Washington
21.2%

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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