Middlesex County officials say Route 1 safety initiative is reducing fatal crashes
According to officials, the roadway carries a large amount of traffic and serves as a major commercial corridor through the county.
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Officials in Middlesex County say a traffic safety initiative launched last year is helping to reduce crashes along one of the state’s busiest highways.
The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office created the Route 1 Safer Travel Initiative to address the high number of crashes and fatalities along the Route 1 corridor.
According to officials, the roadway carries a large amount of traffic and serves as a major commercial corridor through the county.
Advocates who have lost loved ones in crashes say the impact of dangerous driving can be devastating.
Pamela O’Danell, a crash victim advocate, shared the trauma of losing family members in a crash caused by a speeding and impaired driver in 2016.
“I had to go in and see my blonde hair, blue-eyed little girl on a cold silver gurney and realize she was not only internally decapitated, but she was also cut in half by a speeding, distracted, impaired driver,” O’Danell said.
Officials say aggressive driving, speeding and red-light violations are among the most concerning behaviors they continue to see on the roadway.
Through the initiative, law enforcement agencies, like Rutgers University, are working together to increase enforcement and use data to identify areas where crashes happen most frequently along Route 1.
“We are looking at speed sensors to find where speeding is the most severe,” said Sgt. Jonathan Berman, with the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office. “We are talking to officers out there, and we also take complaints from the public about where they see problems.”
Officials say the effort is already showing results. Since launching the initiative, authorities report a 20% decrease in motor vehicle crashes, dropping from 64 crashes in 2024 to 48 in 2025.
Despite that improvement, officials say fatalities remain a concern and enforcement will continue to increase along the corridor. So far this year, there have been eight fatalities on Route 1. Authorities say their ultimate goal is to reduce traffic deaths to zero.
