Report Details Pedestrian Deaths in Monmouth County, 2007 - 2009

The Tri-State Transportation Campaign (TSTC), a transportation reform safety advocacy group, has just released a report on the New York area's most dangerous roads, plus separate reports on the most dangerous roads in New Jersey and Connecticut. The conclusion of the report was that the major routes through our county -- Routes 33, 35, 36, and 9 -- were the most dangerous places for pedestrians due to deaths occurring along those routes. I think their method is flawed,however. Those routes are all rather long and go through different types of communities with different sorts of usage and terrain. A quick look at their county map reveals the Jersey Shore area of Monmouth County, with more pedestrians per square mile than most places in the state, to be particularly dangerous based on its 12 pedestrian deaths (42.9%) between 2007 and 2009. (see map, right)

The Daily Record, which reported on this study, talked to NJ DOT and discussed some solutions to pedestrian deaths being worked on at the state level. The bottom line rules, however. It's just too expensive to fix what's wrong, so be careful as you make your way on foot across our many local highways.

By the way, three of Monmouth County's 28 pedestrian deaths (10.7%) between 2007 and 2009 occurred in the Matawan-Aberdeen-Keyport area. (see map, top)