Common Types of New Jersey Car Accidents

Drivers in New Jersey are required to obey the rules of the road and drive in a reasonably safe manner. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always occur. A report published in October 2020 by QuoteWizard ranked New Jersey as the fourth worst state for bad drivers after assigning composite scores to all states based on the number of accidents, speeding tickets, DUIs, and citations.

Drivers may engage in any number of dangerous behaviors, all of which can lead to auto accidents. When car wrecks happen, it is important to determine what type of accident occurred in order to determine who can be held legally responsible.

If you have been injured by a careless driver on one of our roads, you can seek benefits and compensation through a no-fault insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit. You may be eligible to file a wrongful death lawsuit if you have lost a loved one due to another driver’s negligence.

An experienced car accident lawyer from Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., can review your case and help you to determine your options. Contact us today at 1-800-LAW-2000 or complete our online form. Our initial consultations are free and confidential.

Types & Causes of New Jersey Auto Accidents

Some of the different types of auto accidents include:

1. Drunk driving Accidents

   Sadly, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 30 people die in the U.S. every day in a drunk driving accident, which includes drivers impaired by alcohol (drunk drivers) and illegal or prescription drugs (drugged drivers).

   The New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety reports that alcohol-impaired fatalities accounted for 21 percent of all traffic fatalities in 2018. It also reports that from 2013 to 2017, nearly 700 people were killed in alcohol-impaired crashes in New Jersey and another 37,000 people were injured in these crashes during this timeframe.

2. Distracted driving accidents 

   Distracted driving involves any behaviors that take attention away from the road, including using a cell phone, eating or drinking, interacting with passengers, putting on makeup or other grooming activities, reading maps or other materials, using a GPS, watching videos, or interacting with car controls.

   The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that distracted driving led to 3,142 deaths in 2019. Another 400,000 people are injured each year in distracted driving accidents, according to the CDC. Distracted driving was cited as the leading factor in fatal car accidents in New Jersey in 2018, making it the fifth straight year to hold this record, according to the annual report prepared by the State Police Fatal Accident Unit. Preliminary data showed 2019 was set to be the sixth straight year.

3. Texting while driving accidents 

   Using a cell phone to read or send text messages is one of the most dangerous things to do while driving. The risk of an accident while texting is 23 times greater than the risk when not driving distracted, according to a Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study.

   This factor increases dramatically when speeding or alcohol is added to the mix. According to the New Jersey Department of Transportation, cell phone usage led to 1,001 crashes in New Jersey in 2019. 101 of these were in Bergen County and 91 were in Middlesex County.

4. Speeding and aggressive driving accidents 

   The NHTSA notes that speeding has been involved in approximately one-third of all motor vehicle fatalities for more than two decades. 9,378 lives were lost due to speeding in 2018 alone. Speeding accidents occur when drivers exceed posted limits or when drivers are going too fast for road conditions such as rain, fog, snow, or ice.

5. Side impact collisions 

   There are three different types of side-impact collisions: Same direction sideswipes (two cars going in the same direction, and one makes an improper turn); Opposite direction sideswipes (two cars approaching from opposite directions that collide when one crosses the center line or goes the wrong way on a divided highway; and Right angle or “T-bone” crashes (one car is going straight, and the other comes from the right or left).

   The NHTSA reports that approximately 9,000 people die in side-impact collisions each year. The agency primarily attributes this to the fact that vehicles have less safety protection on the sides of vehicles.

6. Head-on collisions

   Head-on collision crashes occur when two vehicles approach in opposite directions and directly collide. Like opposite-direction sideswipes, these accidents happen when cars are going in opposite directions and one veers over the center line or into the wrong lane. In 2018, there were 3,651 fatal head-on collisions, which represented more than 10 percent of fatal traffic accidents for the year, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

7. Single car crashes 

   There are five different types of single-car crashes. These include collisions with fixed objects such as telephone or utility poles, animals (such as deer), pedestrians, bicycles, and non-fixed objects such as ruts, potholes, or debris on the road. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that 53 percent of the crashes in 2019 were single-vehicle crashes. These crashes resulted in the death of 19,257 people, compared to the death of 16,839 people who were killed in multiple-vehicle accidents in 2019.

8. Multiple vehicle accidents 

   Although a multiple-vehicle crash could refer to any crash with two or more cars, this term is generally used to refer to accidents where at least three vehicles are involved. These are sometimes called “chain-reaction collisions.” One example of this type of accident occurred on the New Jersey Turnpike, which involved 40 vehicles. These chain reaction accidents can be particularly dangerous since the risk of injury increases as one vehicle collides with another, many people may be getting out of their vehicles, and the path for emergency vehicles may be blocked.

9. Truck accidents

   In 2018, 5,096 large trucks and buses were involved in fatal crashes, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. For more information about truck accidents and your rights, please see our Truck Accidents section.

Our New Jersey Car Accident Lawyers Can Help You

Determining the type of New Jersey auto accident is important because drivers who cause an accident that produces injuries through their negligence should be held accountable.

An attorney will be able to assist you in making a claim for medical costs, lost wages, pain and suffering, emotional distress, and other losses. You will have to prove both the negligence of the other driver and a direct link between the negligence and your injuries, so the sooner you contact a New Jersey car accident lawyer to help you begin collecting evidence, the better your chances of receiving maximum compensation.

Since 1981, the car accident lawyers and staff of Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C., have assisted individuals throughout New Jersey and New York who were injured due to another’s carelessness. We can help you, too.

Call us today at 1-800-LAW-2000 or complete our online form to schedule a free and confidential consultation. Our consultations can be by phone or by Skype, FaceTime, or GoToMeeting. We can also meet at your home or in the hospital. You will not pay for our legal services unless you recover compensation in your case.