Study says this is the worst NJ city to drive in

When I see an article on where the worst places to drive in the U.S. are, I perk up, suspecting that somewhere in there will be a New Jersey town. This most recent study set out to find the worst city to drive in in each state.

The study was done by 24/7 Wall Street and the methodology used created four factors:

🚘 Number of deadly auto accidents adjusted for population

🚘 Average hours lost to traffic congestion per commuter

🚘 Average overall commute time

🚘 Motor vehicle theft rate

Each measure is for the latest year of available data.

A city’s ranking on this list only means that it compares less favorably to other metro areas in the state, not to the country as a whole.

Seeing the criteria, I immediately suspected a North Jersey town would take the (dubious) crown; traffic studies have said the worst bottleneck in the U.S. is on the Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge and the whole area is so congested, I figured that would tilt the scales.

Surprise, surprise, it’s not a city in North Jersey, it’s in South Jersey! The worst city to drive in in New Jersey, according to 24/7 Wall Street is: Atlantic City/Hammonton.

Here are stats that put AC in the crosshairs:

> Avg. time lost to traffic delays, 2020: 16 hours per commuter

> Incidents of auto theft, 2021: 168 per 100,000 people (160 per 100,000 in state)

> Fatal crash rate, 2020: 13.8 per 100,000 people (5.9 per 100,000 in state)

> Avg. commute time to work in 2021: 25.7 minutes (28.6 minutes in state)

> Metro areas considered in state: 3

So, to everybody in the rest of the state, your drive could be worse.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle only.

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