Traffic Deaths: Hudson County Fatalities Rose Along With State Trend

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — Traffic deaths hit a 14-year high in New Jersey in 2021, and estimates for 2022 from the federal government released late last month indicate that the trend may keep up this year. READ MORE: Traffic Deaths On Rise After NJ Hit 14-Year High In 2021

Nationally, too, traffic deaths are on the rise, with officials saying that drivers need to re-learn to buckle up and drive safely after being off the road during the lockdowns of 2020. New Jersey was one of 38 states with high numbers in 2021.

Jersey City And Hoboken Numbers

In Hudson County as a whole, it's too early to tell if traffic deaths will rise this year, but they rose significantly from 2020 to 2021.

According to state statistics, so far, there have been 11 fatal motor vehicle crashes in Hudson County in 2022, causing 12 deaths.

In 2021, Hudson County had a total of 28 fatal crashes causing 29 deaths. That was up from 24 crashes and the same number of deaths in 2020. And that number was up from 19 crashes and deaths in 2019.

In the five years before that, Hudson County usually vacillated between 21 and 25 fatal accidents.

There were 21 fatal crashes in Hudson County in 2018, 23 fatal crashes in 2017, 22 fatal crashes in 2016, 25 fatal crashes in 2015, and 22 fatal crashes in 2014.

As for individual towns, Jersey City had 14 fatal crashes in 2021, state statistics say. That's up from 9 in 2020, including the lockdown months.

Before that, there were 9 fatal crashes in 2019, 9 in 2018, 12 in 2017, 6 in 2016, 9 in 2015, and 9 in 2014.

Hoboken vacillated between 0 and 1 fatal crashes from 2014-2017, but has not had a traffic death in four and a half years, since the lone fatality in 2017. The mile-square city also had no traffic deaths in 2014, according to the State Police. The city had 1 traffic death in each of 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Officials including U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg have praised the Bhalla Administration's implementation of is "Vision Zero" program in 2019 to eliminate all traffic deaths in the mile-square city by 2030.

NPR recently covered the measures taken to achieve pedestrian visibility and more.

New Jersey reported 698 people in total who were killed in car crashes in 2021.

Read more about the statewide trends here.

Find Hudson County's statistics for each year here (click on "previous year statistics" if needed). To get individual towns, click on Hudson County on the map.