Skip to main content

New Jersey announces new initiative to combat distracted driving

Responding to an eight percent spike in New Jersey traffic fatalities in 2016, largely attributable to increasing distracted driving, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino and the Division of Highway Traffic Safety are announcing a new initiative to provide state residents with a method to report dangerous drivers in order to protect motorists and pedestrians. The state’s #77 alert system, previously used for reporting aggressive driving, will now be used to report all forms of dangerous driving, from
April 7, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Responding to an eight percent spike in New Jersey traffic fatalities in 2016, largely attributable to increasing distracted driving, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino and the Division of Highway Traffic Safety are announcing a new initiative to provide state residents with a method to report dangerous drivers in order to protect motorists and pedestrians.

The state’s #77 alert system, previously used for reporting aggressive driving, will now be used to report all forms of dangerous driving, from those operating a vehicle while looking at a cell phone to those driving while impaired. Enforcement measures are being stepped up on the road, and in an initiative believed to be one of the first of its kind in the nation, warning letters will be directed to those spotted driving while distracted on New Jersey roadways.

Traffic fatalities in New Jersey rose from 562 in 2015 to 604 in 2016, an average of 12 deaths a week. Division of Highway Traffic Safety officials have said the increase is in part because of distracted driving, such as cell phone use behind the wheel. In 2015 alone, 3,477 people were killed, and 391,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving distracted drivers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Teens were the largest age group reported as distracted at the time of fatal crashes.

Related Content

  • Call for crash barrier redesign
    July 31, 2012
    The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) in the UK is calling on the government to redesign crash barriers to make them more motorcycle-friendly. While crash barriers have saved the lives of thousands of drivers, hitting a crash barrier is a factor in eight to sixteen per cent of rider deaths. When they hit a crash barrier, riders are 15 times more likely to be killed than car occupants. In a crash, barrier support posts can worsen injuries by five times.
  • Healthy prospects for floating vehicle data systems
    February 3, 2012
    Elmar Brockfeld, Alexander Sohr and Peter Wagner from the German Aerospace Center's Institute of Transport Systems look at the prospects for floating vehicle data systems. Although Floating Vehicle Data (FVD) or probe vehicle fleets have been around for about a decade, the idea behind them is of course much older: from probe vehicles that flow with the traffic it should be possible to get a precise, fast and spatially near-complete picture of the prevailing traffic flow conditions in an area under surveilla
  • Electronic vehicle registration ensures payment
    February 2, 2012
    Like most countries, Bermuda recognised that it was losing revenue through non-compliance with vehicle registration regulations and was equally concerned about vehicles that were not properly insured or put through annual inspections. Indeed, the tiny island state, with a population of around 65,000 people and some 30,000 vehicles, estimated it was losing more than US$1.4 million per year in tax-based revenue since approximately 8 per cent of vehicle owners were cheating the system.
  • Pioneering IntelliDrive technologies in Michigan
    February 2, 2012
    Pete Goldin reports on upgrades to the USDOT's Michigan Test Bed, where IntelliDrive technologies are being pioneered