NJ has 4 of the top 10 deadliest U.S. counties for pedestrians
It’s not like we needed another study to tell us how dangerous it can be to play in traffic in New Jersey. But a new study has revealed all of the counties across the United States where pedestrians are most at risk of being in a crash.
This study, by Laborde Earles Injury Lawyers used National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data on fatal car crashes from 2017 to 2021.
During those 5 years, There were 32,000 pedestrian deaths from car crashes, which is more than 17 people each day. That's frightening when you think about it.
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This study analyzed counties that had at least 10 deaths from crashes over those five years to find the highest pedestrian death rates from traffic accidents.
The highest percentage of pedestrian deaths was in Alexandria, Virginia.
And what’s frightening is that out of the 25 traffic deaths in this period, 15 of them involved pedestrians. That means 60% of the fatalities involved pedestrians. That was the highest ratio of all the counties in the study.
The next most deadly counties were New York County in New York, Kings County in New York, San Francisco County in California, Richmond County in New York
and Queens County, also in New York at number six in the country.
Now comes the bad Jersey news.
Essex County, ranked 7th, saw 106 pedestrian fatalities, making up 46.29% of all traffic deaths.
In Hudson County, which took 8th place, there were 56 pedestrian deaths, accounting for 46.28% of the county's traffic fatalities.
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Number nine on the list was Union County, with 65 deaths, 45.14% of its total traffic fatalities.
And sadly, rounding out the top ten, another of our busy North Jersey counties, Bergen County, which experienced 79 pedestrian fatalities, which is 44.13% of the total traffic deaths.
Well, it’s not surprising that the the top ten is dominated by counties in New York and New Jersey, with eight entries between the two states, it’s still a sobering statistic.
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Gallery Credit: Dom DiFurio & Jacob Osborn
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Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco only.
