(TRENTON) – At Wednesday’s Assembly Budget Committee hearing, Assemblyman Daniel Benson (D-Mercer, Middlesex) expressed concern for the rise in pedestrian fatalities in New Jersey during testimony from New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, whose office includes the Division of Highway Traffic Safety:
“Pedestrian fatalities are at a 30 year high in this country. In New Jersey, there were 73 deaths over a six-month period at the beginning of last year. There are many reasons for the high number of fatalities. Distracted driving by texting is one of them.”
“We are going in the wrong direction on pedestrian fatalities whereas other parts of the country are seeing a drop. It’s an area that I hope the new head of the Division of Highway Traffic Safety, in the position that he’s in, is able to look at this issue from his perspective and years of experience, and find ways to reduce pedestrian deaths in New Jersey.”