Statistics provided to the Tri-State Transportation Campaign by the New Jersey Dept. of Law and Public Safety show a 26 percent increase in New Jersey pedestrian fatalities from 2001 to 2002. 182 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes during 2002, up from 134 during 2001.

The startling increase reverses a promising downward trend in New Jersey pedestrian fatalities begun in the mid-1990s. From 1996 to 2001, pedestrian deaths in the state declined by an average of seven percent per year. The 2002 numbers bring New Jersey’s pedestrian death toll to its highest level since 1996, when 183 pedestrians were killed.

Dept. of Law and Public Safety officials cautioned that the 2002 data are still preliminary. However, traffic fatality data revisions tend to increase, rather than reduce, annual totals.

Total NJ traffic fatalities increased as well, from 745 in 2001 to 786 in 2002, a 5.2 percent increase. Overall traffic deaths in New Jersey have been rising steadily since 1999, after declining through much the 1990s. The numbers bring pedestrians’ share of traffic deaths in the state to 23%, the highest rate since 1993. On the other hand, bicyclist and motorcyclist deaths in the state were down significantly from 2001-2002.

The Tri-State Campaign has not yet discussed likely causes of the increase with New Jersey officials, but it may suggest that traffic calming, pedestrian infrastructure improvements and traffic law enforcement are not keeping pace with dangerous driving and the erosion of the pedestrian environment in much of the state.

Among NJ counties, suburban Bergen and Middlesex had the most pedestrian deaths in 2002, with 25 and 23, respectively. These are large increases over respective 2001 totals of 13 and 9 in 2001. The counties’ 2001 numbers were low, however, compared to their pedestrian fatality levels during the 1990s. Essex and Union Counties each saw 17 pedestrians killed during 2002. Burlington and Essex Counties each saw 65 total traffic deaths in 2002, the highest totals among all counties.

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