Official Site of The State of New Jersey
Deaths due to Motor Vehicle-Related Injuries
Summary Indicator Report Data View Options
Deaths due to Motor Vehicle-Related Injuries by County, New Jersey, 2018-2020
Why Is This Important?
Motor vehicle crashes are the second leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States and in New Jersey.
Definition
Deaths with motor vehicle-related injury as the underlying cause of death. Motor vehicle-related deaths include motor vehicle and motorcycle drivers and passengers, pedestrians, and bicyclists struck by motor vehicles both on roadways in traffic and in other areas such as parking lots and driveways. ICD-10 codes: V02-V04, V09.0, V09.2, V12-V14, V19.0-V19.2, V19.4-V19.6, V20-V79, V80.3-V80.5, V81.0-V81.1, V82.0-V82.1, V83-V86, V87.0-V87.8, V88.0-V88.8, V89.0, V89.2
Data Sources
- Death Certificate Database, Office of Vital Statistics and Registry, New Jersey Department of Health
(https://www.nj.gov/health/vital/) - Population Estimates, State Data Center, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development
(https://www.nj.gov/labor/labormarketinformation/demographics/population-household-estimates/) - Underlying Cause of Death, CDC WONDER On-line Database, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(https://wonder.cdc.gov/Deaths-by-Underlying-Cause.html)
How the Measure is Calculated
| Numerator: | Number of deaths due to motor vehicle-related injuries |
| Denominator: | Estimated number of persons in the population |
How Are We Doing?
The number of motor vehicle crashes occurring in New Jersey experienced a large decline in 2020, from over 270,000 each year between 2016 and 2019 to fewer than 191,000 in 2020. Meanwhile, the injury rate remained stable at about 22% of crashes.[https://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/accident/crash_statistics.shtm ^1^] However, fatalities rose in 2020. Death rates due to motor vehicle-related injuries are on a slow downward trend in New Jersey and the United States dating back to the early 1990's, however there were increases in both the US and New Jersey rates between 2019 and 2020. In New Jersey, most of the increase was among Blacks. While there is usually no statistically significant difference in age-adjusted death rates among Blacks, Whites, and Hispanics in New Jersey, in 2020 the rate among Blacks was significantly higher than among other racial/ethnic groups. It is conceivable that the COVID-19 pandemic caused an increase in other causes of death due to delays in medical care and fears of going to the hospital and being exposed to COVID. The age-adjusted motor vehicle-related death rate among males is nearly triple that of females and about 70% of motor vehicle-related fatalities are among males. County rates vary from 3.7 per 100,000 population (age-adjusted) in Hudson to 16.9 in Cumberland (2018-2020 data).
How Do We Compare With the U.S.?
The New Jersey motor vehicle-related mortality rate is about half that of the nation as a whole.
What Is Being Done?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's "[http://www.nhtsa.gov/CIOT Click It or Ticket]" campaign is the most successful seat belt enforcement campaign ever, helping achieve an all-time high national seat belt usage rate of 90 percent.[https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/seat-belts ^2^] New Jersey's laws to protect drivers, passengers, bicyclists, and pedestrians are among the most stringent in the nation and can be viewed at [https://www.ghsa.org/state-laws].
Available Services
[https://www.njoag.gov/about/divisions-and-offices/division-of-highway-traffic-safety-home/division-of-highway-traffic-safety-child-passenger-safety/ Free Safety Checks for Infant and Child Car Seats]
More Resources
NJ's Key Highway Safety Laws: [https://www.ghsa.org/state-laws]
Health Program Information
[https://www.njoag.gov/about/divisions-and-offices/division-of-highway-traffic-safety-home/ NJ Division of Highway Traffic Safety] [https://www.state.nj.us/mvc/license/initiallicense.htm New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, Graduated Driver License (GDL) program] [https://www.saferoadsforallnj.com/ NJ Department of Transportation, Driving Toward Zero Deaths]
Footnote References
1. NJ Department of Transportation Crash Statistics: [https://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/accident/crash_statistics.shtm] (site accessed 5/11/22) 2. US Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Seat Belts: [https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/seat-belts] (site accessed 5/11/22)