One Day, 89 Tickets: Law Enforcement Delivers Clear Message On Route 539

If you thought the warnings about increased traffic enforcement on Route 539 were just scare tactics, you might want to think again.

On the first day of the enhanced enforcement of speed limits and other traffic laws along the 38-mile stretch of road that has seen an increase in crashes in the last year, 89 tickets were written to motorists for a variety of offenses, including 24 for speeding, according to information released by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s office Wednesday.

In a five-hour span on Saturday, Aug. 15, 17 police officers and three Ocean County sheriff’s officers stopped 146 vehicles along the road, which had 284 crashes from January 2013 through May 2015, the prosecutor’s office said earlier this month. Eleven of those crashes resulted in fatalities.

But it was a spate of crashes in June and July -- including four in a six-day span, with one fatal crash -- that spurred law enforcement to act.

Speeding, dangerous passing of multiple cars and other issues were cited by drivers who travel the road, which runs from Little Egg Harbor through Tuckerton, Stafford, Barnegat, Lacey, Manchester, Plumsted and Jackson townships..

Route 539 is a single lane in each direction and has speed limits as low as 30 mph in the Little Egg and Tuckerton area but that limit increases to 55 mph in Manchester and Plumsted. where drivers frequently speed along the stretch and pass slower drivers.

The stretch in Manchester and Lacey has been particularly dangerous. Statistics issued by the prosecutor’s office said the span saw 99 crashes in Manchester alone. Two of the four July crashes occurred in Lacey.

The enforcement initiative will bring vigilant and aggressive enforcement of all those motor vehicle moving and equipment violations that are major contributory causes to the crashes, Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said, including: improper passing, excessive speed, driving while under the influence, aggressive driving, improper turning, failing to yield, inattentive driving, disregard of traffic signal, following too close and various commercial carrier violations such as overweight, equipment maintenance and brake pressure.

In addition to the 24 speeding tickets issued, 17 people received tickets for seat belt violations, 19 were ticketed for other unspecified moving violations, and eight received summonses for equipment issues. There were 21 tickets issued for unspecified nonmoving violations.

Additionally, three people received summonses related to drugs and one driver was charged with driving under the influence, offficials said.

(A car passes another on an Ocean County road recently, one of two cars this driver passed on this maneuver. Improper passing has been linked to several crashes on Route 539 recently, including one fatal crash. Credit: Karen Wall)