N.J. State Police are issuing more tickets for speeding, careless driving on highways

The end of major construction projects that slowed traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway has been cited to explain why the state police are issuing more speeding and careless driving tickets. This 2012 photo is from Wikimedia Commons.

Editor's note: Drivers who speed, tailgate or weave through slower traffic are a major quality of life issue as the state's roads become increasingly congested, but the problem is ignored by the news media.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- You're more likely to be stopped for speeding or careless driving on New Jersey's major toll roads than you were just a few years ago.

Data for 2017 show the New Jersey State Police have begun to reverse a dramatic decline in the number of speeding and careless driving summonses issued on the turnpike and parkway -- the state's busiest roads -- between 2010 and 2015.

Troop D, which patrols the New Jersey Turnpike, issued 9,981 speeding summonses in 2017, compared to 8,861 in 2015, Lt. Ted Schafer, a state police spokesman, said today.

Careless  driving summonses issued on the turnpike totaled 6,234 in 2017, compared to 5,702 in 2015, he said.

Troop E, which patrols the Garden State Parkway, issued 9,021 speeding summonses in 2017 or 3,435 more than the 5,586 issued in 2015.

Careless driving summonses issued on the parkway totaled 5,857 in 2017, compared to 5,610 in 2015.

2010 to 2015

In November 2015, I reported in Eye on The Record that the decline in the number of speeding tickets issued on the turnpike was especially stark -- 9,950 up to that point in 2015, compared to 18,193 in 2010.

On the parkway, 6,543 speeding summonses had been issued in the first 11 months or so of 2015, compared to 9,669 in 2010. See: 

Speeding tickets declined dramatically in 2010-15

At the time, the state police defended their record, explaining their main objective is to reduce the number of fatal accidents on the state's busiest roads.

Fatal accidents on the parkway had dropped to 7 at that point in 2015, compared to 25 in 2010 and 31 in 2005.

On the turnpike, which is used by both cars and big trucks, there had been 19 fatal accidents in 2015, compared to 13 in 2010 and 23 in 2005.