Why Rt. 22 got so deadly and what cops are doing about it

If you love someone who ever drives on Rt. 22 you need to share this story with them. It might save their life.

While it’s always been an obnoxious road with businesses crowded in and people cutting you off making their way into driveways or jug handles, the highway recently got a lot more treacherous. Police say lately there is an increasing number of Fast and Furious-type drivers using 22 like their personal strip. Authorities say drivers are literally racing each other and are becoming a danger to themselves and others.

The Bound Brook Police Department’s Facebook page carried a post about this which included the following warning:

“Speed kills, and the last thing we want is to have to knock on your families door in the middle of the night. Please stop speeding, we will catch you!”

Sure enough towns have launched crackdowns. One police officer in Bound Brook caught someone going 141 mph. For some perspective on that, Bobby Unser won the Indianapolis 500 in 1981 with an average speed of 139 mph. In 1988 Rick Mears won it with an average speed of 159 mph. And Takuma Sato last year with an average speed of 157 mph.

So with the wrong timing you’re exiting a business onto Rt. 22 and it’s like you’re trying to merge on an active raceway. According to mycentraljersey.com, other towns are joining in the crackdown. Towns like Greenbrook and Bridgewater.

Honestly? I understand the curiosity about speed. But hitting NASCAR speeds on a road as crowded as 22 is just imbecilic. I hope these crackdowns do their job. Otherwise it’s just a matter of time before there are fatalities. And it won’t be a glorious Paul Walker-style Hollywood ending. It will be an innocent family with young children involved. It’s how these things always seem to go.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.