Be Careful! Most Dangerous Hours To Drive In South Jersey Revealed

People are always stressed out to the max during the holiday season. It's sad that we can't just relax in bask in the joy of Christmas, but decorations have to hung, cookies have to be baked, and presents have to be bought.

It's absolutely bananas here in the Garden State during the holiday season. The same can be said for our roadways.

Since people are here, there, and everywhere this time of year, people are a lot more eager to get where they need to be as quickly as humanly possible. That means traffic is sometimes garbage this time of year.

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The roads can be a bit dangerous when all people are thinking about is getting from point A to point B ASAP.

Crash data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has recently been analyzed in an effort to figure out when the most dangerous and safest times to drive are in New Jersey. They looked at fatal crashes between 2017 and 2022 and came up with some interesting findings.

Most Dangerous Times To Drive In New Jersey

The study showed that 9:00 PM to 9:59 PM is the most dangerous time to be on the road here in the Garden State. During this one-hour period, 228 fatal crashes occurred, which makes up about 6.53% of all fatal crashes in the state. It makes sense, doesn't it? That's when it starts getting dark. People tend to be more tired and distracted by that point in the day. Plus, alcohol-related accidents are more common at night.

It can definitely be scary on roads like the Black Horse Pike, White Horse Pike, Garden State Parkway, and AC Expressway at that time of night.

Safest Times To Drive In New Jersey

It was revealed that the safest time to drive is actually from 4:00 AM to 4:59 AM. There were only 83 fatal crashes during that hour, which made up just 2.38% of the total fatal crash number. With less drivers on the road and people a lot more alert at the wheel during that time, it's easy to see how so few accidents would occur during that time.

That's usually around the time I head into work, so I can say for sure that there are way less people on the road at that time here in South Jersey.

So, make sure you don't drive like an idiot while trying to get all your shopping and errands done this year. If you're out driving a night, be extra cautious come 9 p.m.