PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Route 55 in Gloucester and Cumberland Counties has seen dozens of fatal crashes in recent years, and New Jersey’s Department of Transportation is implementing some changes to help improve safety.
Data shows that since 2019, there have been 43 fatal crashes on Route 55. While no two accidents are the same, a few common issues keep arising.
“At the end of the day, a driver can make a mistake. But are we giving them an opportunity to correct that mistake?” Department of Transportation commissioner Priya Jain said.
Jain said wrong-way drivers caused at least three fatal crashes, so the DOT is adding 75 more signs on the ramps at exits 45 to 56 to alert drivers they are heading in the wrong direction.
She said clear zones were also important, including trimming or removing vegetation from the median for improved visibility, helping to eliminate the risk of smashing into a tree. The DOT is also currently looking into where adding more guardrails may be appropriate to prevent people from hitting bridge supports.
“Those are some of the things that we identified that we needed to go address,” Jain said.
Thirty percent of the fatal crashes involved ejections of unrestrained drivers or passengers. She said everyone in the car, even those in the back seat, must wear their seat belts at all times.
