New Jersey
Fatal crashes fall nearly 10% in N.J.
From Camden and Cherry Hill to Trenton and the Jersey Shore, what about life in New Jersey do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know.
Preliminary data released by the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety show fewer people died in fatal crashes in the Garden State in 2023. Those decreases extended across drivers, passengers and pedestrians.
According to data released on Monday, there were 585 fatal crashes last year, compared to 646 in 2022, a 9.4% decrease.
Officials say the decrease in motor vehicle passenger fatalities is “significant.” That number went from 103 in 2022 to 585 in 2023, a 16.5% improvement. Driver fatalities fell from 379 in 2022 to 322 last year. Pedestrian fatalities fell from 191 in 2022 to 175 in 2023.
Fourteen of the Garden State’s counties saw a decline in fatalities. Burlington, Cape May, Hunterdon, Monmouth, Salem and Sussex counties experienced a drop of 30% or greater. In Burlington County, fatal crashes went from 60 in 2022 to 36 in 2023.