Ocean County deadliest place to drive in New Jersey
January 8, 2010 by NJ News
Filed under Feature, New Jersey News
Ocean County, NJ – In 2009, there were 589 roadway fatalities in the state of New Jersey. 64 of them were in Ocean County, averaging 34.5% higher than the state average per county and 16 more than second place Burlington and Middlesex Counties.
When factoring in fatalities per population, the County does not fare much better, ranking third behind Salem and Cumberland Counties with one fatality per 8,891 people per year, based on 2008 U.S. Census estimates.
When digging deeper into Ocean County, the county seat of Toms River leads the county in fatalities with 10 fatalities, 50% of them happening on State Highways 37, Garden State Park and 35. Only 5 of Toms River’s accidents occured on city and county roads.
Trailing closely behind Toms River is Jackson Township with 9 fatalities, 2 occuring on Interstate 95. By comparison however, there is 1 accident per 9,593 residents in Toms River and 1 accident per 5,843 in Jackson Township, making jackson Township residents 40% more likely to die in a car accident than neighboring Toms River is nearly 45% more populated than Jackson Township.
Most of Jackson Township’s accidents however occured on 50 mph winding county highways which have been overlooked by county engineers for many years as Jackson’s once sleepy throughways have changed little despite a nearly 50% population increase between 1990 and 2010 on roads that have remained mostly the same as they were 20 years ago.
In Jackson Township, 4 people died on East Veteran’s Highway in 2009, accounting for 44% of roadway fatalities, making East Veterans Highway (CR 527-528) the most deadly road in Ocean County in 2009. The first fatal accident of 2010 in Jackson occured on January 8, 2009, putting the township a headstart on beating 2009 totals. The first fatal accident of 2009 occured on April 23rd when a man was killed in an accident at the intersection of Don Connor Blvd and Route 527.
Route 527 was also host to two serious school bus accidents in 2009 which sent 5 children in total to area hospitals.
Fatalities by County – New Jersey
| Fatalities | Population | F Per Person | |
| Ocean | 64 | 569,000 | 8891 |
| Burlington | 48 | 445,000 | 9271 |
| Middlesex | 48 | 789,000 | 16438 |
| Atlantic | 44 | 270,000 | 6136 |
| Essex | 43 | 770,000 | 17907 |
| Camden | 42 | 517,000 | 12310 |
| Union | 42 | 523,000 | 12452 |
| Monmouth | 34 | 642,000 | 18882 |
| Cumberland | 27 | 156,000 | 5778 |
| Passaic | 27 | 490,000 | 18148 |
| Bergen | 26 | 894,000 | 34385 |
| Gloucester | 22 | 287,000 | 13045 |
| Hudson | 22 | 595,000 | 27045 |
| Mercer | 22 | 365,000 | 16591 |
| Morris | 18 | 487,000 | 27056 |
| Salem | 15 | 66,000 | 4400 |
| Somerset | 13 | 324,000 | 24923 |
| Warren | 9 | 109,000 | 12111 |
| Cape May | 8 | 95,000 | 11875 |
| Hunterdon | 8 | 129,000 | 16125 |
| Sussex | 7 | 150,000 | 21429 |
| NJ Totals | 589 | 8,672,000 | 14723 |
Fatalities by Municipality – Ocean County, NJ
Data from the following sources:
| Fatalities | Population | F Per Person | |
| Toms River | 10 | 95,933 | 9593 |
| Jackson | 9 | 52,587 | 5843 |
| Brick | 7 | 78,419 | 11203 |
| Lacey | 6 | 26,381 | 4397 |
| Lakewood | 6 | 70,983 | 11831 |
| Stafford | 5 | 26,520 | 5304 |
| Barnegat | 4 | 22,255 | 5564 |
| Berkley | 4 | 42,754 | 10689 |
| Point Pleasant | 4 | 20,139 | 5035 |
| Plumsted | 4 | 8,215 | 2054 |
| Manchester | 3 | 41,629 | 13876 |
| Ocean | 2 | 8,993 | 4497 |
| Seaside | 1 | 5,653 | 5653 |
| 65 | 500,461 | n/a |
NJ State Police Fatal Accident Statistics: http://www.njsp.org/info/fatalacc/stats-2009.html
US Census Bureau: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/34000.html
Ocean County Census Data: http://www.planning.co.ocean.nj.us/databooktoc.htm
*Population of municipalities with fatal accidents only included and does not represent the total population of Ocean County.
