Click it or Ticket has a new companion safety catch phrase that officials hope rolls of the tongue of drivers and stays in their mind- “Put the Phone Away or Pay.”
The new slogan, launched by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Monday, for April’s designation as distracted driving month also came with promising news that traffic fatalities declined nationally in 2023, continuing a drop that started in 2022.
Nationally, 1,524 fewer people died on the nation’s road in 2023 when 40,990 people died in traffic fatalities, compared to 2022 when 42,514 were killed.
The decline marks the seventh straight yearly quarter that the country saw a steady decline in the traffic deaths, Sophie Shulman, deputy administrator of the NHTSA, said during a Monday press event.
New Jersey saw a 10.25% drop in traffic fatalities between the 685 people who died in 2022 and 2023’s death toll of 615 people, according to the administration. That translated to a fatality rate drop from 0.91 rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2022 to 0.78 in 2023. Based on that number, the state already surpassed a 2024 goal to have a fatality rate of 0.80 in the state 2024-2026 highway safety plan New Jersey is among 12 states that had a fatality rate under 1.00, which included New York State.
Neighboring Pennsylvania saw a 4.2% increase in the number of traffic deaths from 1,179 to 1,229 people killed but had a slight dip in the fatality rate.
Distracted driving took its own toll.
In 2022, 3,308 people were killed nationally and an estimated additional 289,310 people injured in crashes involving distracted drivers, according to administration statistics. In New Jersey, distracted driving was listed as the contributing factor in 170 fatalities, according to a state police analysis of traffic deaths for 2022. While the new advertising campaign slogan mentions phones, Shulman said it applies to any distraction that takes a drivers focus off driving, from eating to setting the navigation system to talking with other passengers and more.
The administration has a $5 million paid ad campaign in English and Spanish to reach drivers this month and let them know if caught, they will pay in cash, motor vehicle points that lead to higher insurance rates and in the worst case in a fatality. Between April 4 and 8 law enforcement will be prioritizing distracted enforcement in a “fair and equitable” way.
New Jersey’s state highway safety plan show $7.5 million in federal funds allocated for 2024-2026 for distracted driving and has a goal to reduce the total number of distracted driving caused fatalities by 7% annually through 2026.
It calls for allocating grant money to state, county and local law enforcement agencies to conduct “high visibility enforcement efforts” and distracted driving saturation patrols on problem roadways and locations as identified by data.
For roughly 10 years, distracted driving, also called driver inattention, has been the largest contributing factor in fatal crash in New Jersey, based on State Police annual fatal crash analysis.
Sometimes several factors are involved in a fatal crash, such as inattention and running a stop signs, making it difficult to identify one as the cause, State Police officials said in earlier interviews.
One such deadly combination happened in Ocean City on July 21, 2009, turned Joel Feldman in to a safety advocate and founder of EndDD.org. His daughter Casey was killed that day when a van ran a stop sign in Ocean City while she was crossing the street at a crosswalk. The van driver said he never saw her and admitted to reaching for his GPS while holding an ice tea.
Joel Feldman formed End DD as an educational and advocacy group During the press conference, he rolled up his shirt sleeve to display a pink wristband in honor of Casey that he wore next to others. He called on parents to set a good example for their teen drivers by avoiding distractions while they’re driving with kids in the car.
“When you’re tempted to drive distracted, I want you to think of all these wrist bands representing dead kids,” he said. “It represents the excuse that it will just take a few seconds. I’m a great multitasker.”
Feldman is looking to the newest generation of drivers to make distracted driving an unacceptable social behavior. Parents have to lead by example and focus only on driving
“I’m optimistic we can get this done and change the culture of distracted driving,” he said. “Teens say it is selfish and disrespectful. That is the way to change and make distracted driving socially unacceptable.”
Alan Morales of Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Maryland is one of those teens, as a member of the national Students Against Destructive Decisions student leadership council. He’s worked with distracted driving pilot programs at 7 high schools, primarily in the south.
Stories by Larry Higgs
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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X @CommutingLarry