AAA South Jersey Joins Camden County, State Officials on White Horse Pike Traffic Safety Initiative
The $400,000 campaign, funded by the Division of Highway Traffic Safety, was announced at a press conference on Monday and aims to cut down on crashes and increase pedestrian safety. \n
Mar 28, 2024 | Traffic Safety
VOORHEES, N.J. – AAA South Jersey has joined forces with the Camden County Prosecutors Office and the New Jersey Attorney General on a lifesaving new initiative to reinforce traffic safety on the White Horse Pike. The $400,000 campaign, funded by the Division of Highway Traffic Safety, was announced at a press conference on Monday and aims to cut down on crashes and increase pedestrian safety.
“We have repeatedly seen deadly car crashes on the White Horse Pike and we are determined to reduce the number of lives lost because so many of these incidents can be prevented,” said Camden County Prosecutor Grace MacAulay. “And we have noticed a common theme in these crashes: distracted driving and disregarding the speed limit. Too often drivers are looking at their cellphones and ignoring the speed limit, resulting in catastrophe.”
The White Horse Pike is one of our region’s busiest – and deadliest – roadways. In 2023, there were seven fatal crashes on the roadway, resulting in eight fatalities including five pedestrians and one bicyclist. Last year, a 2-year-old child and a 9-month-old were killed in a crash in Waterford Township.
“We have since focused our efforts on both pedestrians and motorists in an attempt to educate and reduce the infractions that contribute to these types of accidents,” Waterford Township Police Chief Daniel Cormaney said. “There will be a noticeable increase in police presence, and we are asking everyone to be conscious of their surroundings while driving and drive safely to assist us in accomplishing our goals of safer roadways for our residents, pedestrians and the motoring public.”
There have been 11,251 crashes on the White Horse Pike since 2010, according to the New Jersey Department of Transportation. More than 7,000 of these crashes involved driver inattention or distracted driving, and nearly 700 involved speeding.
The $400,000 in funding will be split among 14 police departments along the White Horse Pike to increase patrols and provide educational programing. That’s where community partners like AAA South Jersey, Street Smart New Jersey, Brain Injury Alliance, and Safe Kids South Jersey can lend a hand.
We will be working with law enforcement to provide educational outreach to the community, schools, and AAA members to promote safe driving.
Recent AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety research has shown that although many drivers recognize the dangers of the dangerous behaviors, they continue to engage in these potentially fatal habits, particularly speeding.
“AAA South Jersey is proud to support this lifesaving initiative in any way we can,” AAA South Jersey spokesperson Matt Bowker said. “Recent AAA research has shown that many motorists perceive unsafe driving behaviors — speeding, aggressive driving, distracted driving — as dangerous, but many still admitted to doing these behaviors in the previous 30 days. Through this collaboration, we hope to educate drivers about these dangers to reach our shared goal of zero deaths.”