Monmouth County New Jersey Motor Vehicle Accidents Law Blog

Red light cameras are a contentious subject in New Jersey and around the country. Road safety advocates point to data that shows installing cameras on traffic signals prevents accidents and saves lives, but many motorists believe the devices are primarily used to generate revenue for cash-strapped municipalities. Red light cameras were in use in 533 American cities and towns in 2012, but that figure has since dropped to just 421. Deaths caused by red-light runners rose by 17% in the years following the removal of the cameras.

Road safety groups advocate for red light cameras because motorists cannot be relied upon to act responsibly at intersections. More than four in 10 of the drivers surveyed recently by the American Automobile Association admitted to driving through a red light at least once during the previous 30 days despite knowing that doing so was both unacceptable and extremely dangerous. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, accidents caused by red-light running claimed almost 900 lives in 2017.

Although hands-free cell phones increase safety for commercial truck drivers in New Jersey, they do not guarantee that drivers remain focused on the road. Lytx, a company that tracks commercial driver behavior with video telematics, has collected evidence that some drivers using hands-free cell phones sometimes engage in other distracting activities.

Hands-free devices reduce distraction compared to holding phones, but conducting a hands-free conversation remains distracting. Talking to someone else divides a driver's attention and naturally subtracts from monitoring traffic. Additionally, Lytx determined that 23% of the distracted drivers that it observed had engaged in multiple risky actions at the same time. They often did other things, like eat or smoke, while also using a hands-free device.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine is clear that drowsy driving is 100% preventable. Unfortunately, many in New Jersey and across the U.S. engage in it. The AASM conducted a Sleep Prioritization Survey involving 2,003 adults, and 45% admitted that they have struggled sometimes to keep their eyes open while behind the wheel.

Drowsiness causes drivers to make poor decisions and react slowly to dangers. Drivers can even fall asleep, in which case an accident is most surely to occur. Every year, an average of 6,400 fatal car crashes are due to drowsy driving, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Since drowsy driving is preventable, the AASM has provided some tips on how to go about with prevention.

Drivers who cause fatal car accidents in New Jersey and around the country are more than twice as likely to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol as the other motorists involved. This was what researchers from Columbia University discovered after studying accident data on more than 18,000 deadly crashes from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, which is managed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The results of the study were published in the February 2019 issue of JAMA Network Open.

The researchers were not surprised to discover that 5,258 of the motorists found responsible for causing the accidents were driving under the influence of alcohol while only 1,815 of the other drivers involved consumed alcohol before getting behind the wheel. However, they were shocked to find out how common opioid impairment on the nation's roads has become. Only 2% of the drivers involved in fatal accidents in 1993 tested positive for opioids. That number has since more than tripled.