Clifton, NJ car accidents: more than half of New Jersey's Route 3 injury accidents happen inside the city
Clifton had 2,195 police-reported car accidents in 2023 and 2024 in which someone was hurt or killed. They hurt 3,016 people and killed 9. That ranks Clifton 6th in New Jersey and second in Passaic County, behind only Paterson.1
Rear-ended on Route 3, or hurt somewhere else in Clifton? Answer a few short questions, about 30 seconds, to see if a lawyer's office may review your claim for free.
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Where do most car accidents happen in Clifton?
On Route 3. Inside Clifton it had 393 injury accidents in 2023 and 2024, more than Route 46, the Parkway or Route 21 in town. Next door, see Woodland Park car accident data.
See the full table
| Road | Hurt or killed, in Clifton | People hurt | Killed | Same road, statewide | Clifton's share of that road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Route 3 | 393 | 528 | 2 | 674 | 58% |
| Route 46 | 213 | 300 | 1 | 1,327 | 16% |
| Garden State Parkway | 147 | 198 | 1 | 3,461 | 4% |
| Route 21 (McCarter Highway) | 117 | 166 | 0 | 615 | 19% |
Route 3 crashes here are mostly rear-end: 270 of the 393 (69 percent). On every other Clifton road the rear-end share was 30 percent, close to 31 percent statewide and 27 percent in Passaic County.2
Rear-ended on Route 3? Three quick answers:
- Call the police if anyone is hurt or damage to any one person is over $500; the driver must tell them right away.
- Fault is not automatic: New Jersey splits it by percentage, and you can recover if your share is not greater than the other driver's. See how fault splits work in New Jersey.
- Name the cross street and direction, not just "Route 3 in Clifton". The next steps are in our rear-end crash guide for New Jersey.
Looking for a Route 3 accident today? This page holds 2023 to 2025 records, not news; see Route 3 accident today: quick answers. Town shares and mileposts along the whole road are on the Route 3 accident data page.
Which Route 3 cross streets in Clifton have the most injury accidents?
Main Avenue, with at least 42 injury accidents in 2024 and 2025, then Bloomfield Avenue with 34, Grove Street with 26 and Passaic Avenue with 25. Where Route 3 splits toward Route 46, see Route 46 crashes near Little Falls.
See the full table
| Cross street | Hurt or killed (at least) | All accidents (at least) |
|---|---|---|
| Main Avenue | 42 | 139 |
| Bloomfield Avenue | 34 | 128 |
| Grove Street | 26 | 101 |
| Passaic Avenue | 25 | 95 |
| Broad Street (Route 509) | 21 | 69 |
| Hepburn Road | 16 | 57 |
When you describe a Route 3 crash to police or an insurer, the cross street is the detail that places it.
Which Clifton intersections have the most injury accidents?
Luddington Avenue at Third Street, with 11 injury accidents in 2024 and 2025. Third Street appears in four of the top 15 corners, Main Avenue in three.
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| Intersection | Hurt or killed, 2024 + 2025 | Of which 2025 | People hurt | All accidents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luddington Avenue at Third Street | 11 | 7 | 17 | 17 |
| 3rd Street at Highland Avenue | 8 | 3 | 12 | 15 |
| 1st Street at Clifton Avenue | 8 | 6 | 10 | 10 |
| Allwood Road at Clifton Avenue (Route 161) | 7 | 1 | 9 | 10 |
| Highland Avenue at Paulison Avenue | 6 | 5 | 7 | 10 |
| Ackerman Avenue at Cheever Avenue | 6 | 4 | 13 | 8 |
Eight more corners tie at 5, among them Grove Street at Van Houten Avenue, Colfax Avenue at Elm Street and Crooks Avenue at Getty Avenue. The statewide ranking is on our 25 New Jersey intersections with the most injury accidents page.
Allwood Road at Broad Street: was it the junction or a driveway?
Usually not the junction itself. Of 41 crashes recorded with Allwood Road and Broad Street named in 2024 and 2025, only 5 were flagged at the intersection. Ten of the 41 left someone hurt.
If yours happened near there, note whether the other car was turning in, pulling out of a property or moving through.
How many pedestrians are hit by cars in Clifton?
148 pedestrian crashes in 2023 and 2024, and 136 of them left someone hurt or killed. Main Avenue had 18, Clifton Avenue 12 and Lexington Avenue 11.
Of those 136, 59 (43 percent) happened in the dark, against 29 percent of all Clifton injury accidents. Five of the 12 fatal crashes in Clifton from 2023 to 2025 were pedestrian crashes, and one more involved a cyclist.
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| Road system | Hurt or killed | Share | Pedestrian crashes |
|---|---|---|---|
| County | 860 | 39% | 99 |
| NJDOT State Highway | 804 | 37% | 13 |
| Municipal | 377 | 17% | 33 |
| State Authority (Garden State Parkway) | 149 | 7% | 2 |
| Other (private property, parks, interstate) | 5 | 0.2% | 1 |
The county avenues, the Passaic County 600 routes such as Main and Clifton Avenues, carry 99 of the 148 pedestrian crashes. Municipal streets hold only about one in six injury accidents.
Hit on foot? Whether your own PIP pays is covered in how New Jersey no-fault PIP works, and the next steps in our pedestrian crash guide for New Jersey.
Are car accidents in Clifton going down?
Not clearly. The 2025 file, still preliminary, holds 95 percent of Clifton's 2024 accident total but only 85 percent of its injury accidents, and reports may still be arriving.
See the full table
| Year | All accidents | Hurt or killed | People hurt | People killed | Pedestrian crashes | Bicycle crashes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 4,384 | 1,059 | 1,455 | 5 | 72 | 39 |
| 2024 | 4,513 | 1,136 | 1,561 | 4 | 76 | 45 |
| 2025 | 4,290 | 963 | 1,293 | 3 | 62 | 40 |
The gap is spread across the year rather than in one missing month; by total accidents, January, April and June are lowest. For the cities next door, see car accidents in Paterson, car accidents in the City of Passaic and car accidents in Wayne.
How do I get a Clifton police accident report?
From the Clifton Police Records Division in City Hall, at 973-470-5877, or through the online report service its records page links. Reports can be obtained after 3 business days.
| Where | Records Division, City Hall, or the online service linked from the records page |
|---|---|
| Ready | After 3 business days |
| Weekday hours | 9:00 or 10:00 am to 4:00 pm (the two department pages differ) |
| Tuesday evenings | Open until 7 pm for report pickup, since 6 February 2024 |
| Other lines | Non-emergency 973-470-5900; Traffic Division 973-470-5904 |
The agency, not the road, decides where the report sits: Clifton's records include two fatal Parkway crashes, in December 2023 and June 2025. If State Police took it, on the Parkway or another state road, use our NJ accident report guide, agency by agency.
No police report? If someone was hurt or damage to any one person was over $500, the driver sends a written report to the MVC within 10 days, on New Jersey's SR-1 self-reporting form.
Who may request a report and what to bring are on what you need to request an accident report. Once you have it, how to read a New Jersey crash report explains the codes.
Will Clifton police do anything about a hit and run?
They take the report, and that report counts for your own coverage: DOBI warns that without a police report your insurer could deny the claim. How long police investigate, and who pays when the driver is never found, is on our NJ hit and run claim guide.
Was there a hit and run in New Jersey today?
Not from this page: it holds 2023 to 2025 police records, not live news. Every other New Jersey topic is on the New Jersey car accident help hub.
What these numbers can and cannot tell you
The counts on this page are police-reported car accidents from NJDOT crash records, analyzed by us. They show where and when accidents where someone was hurt happened in Clifton. They do not show who was at fault in any accident, and they say nothing about whether you have a claim or what it could be worth.
Rules that apply anywhere in New Jersey
- Your own auto policy's PIP pays eligible medical expenses "no matter who caused the auto accident," up to your policy's limit and after its deductible and co-pay. If you chose your health insurance as primary, it pays first and PIP pays second. A claim against the other driver for pain and suffering is separate: it depends on fault and on the lawsuit option on your policy. 8
- Being partly at fault does not stop you from recovering, as long as your share is not greater than the other driver's, or the combined share of all the drivers you claim against (the "51 percent" rule). Your damages are reduced by your share. 9
- If someone is hurt or killed, or property damage to any one person is over $500, the driver must tell the police right away and send a written report to the Motor Vehicle Commission within 10 days, unless a police officer files one. If police did not investigate, New Jersey's SR-1 self-reporting form is the form for that. 10
- An injury lawsuit generally must be filed within two years, and a claim against a public body (a town, the state, NJ Transit) needs a written notice within 90 days. These are general rules with exceptions; check your own dates with a lawyer. 11
Next steps: how to get your New Jersey accident report, agency by agency, and how New Jersey no-fault (PIP) insurance works after an accident. This is general information, not legal advice.
Hurt in a car accident in Clifton? Take the 30-second New Jersey quiz to see if a lawyer's office may review your claim for free.
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Sources
- NJDOT crash records 2023 to 2025 via the open-source nj-crashes project, fatal crashes supplemented from the NJ State Police feed; our analysis.
- Our analysis of NJDOT crash records, 2023 and 2024 (complete years).
- Our analysis of NJDOT crash records, 2024 and 2025, cross streets as recorded.
- Our analysis of NJDOT crash records, 2024 and 2025, crashes flagged at an intersection.
- Our analysis of NJDOT crash records, 2023 to 2025.
- Our analysis of NJDOT crash records; 2025 compared month by month with 2024.
- Clifton Police Department records page and General Info page; NJ DOBI, Filing an Auto Damage Claim with Your Own Insurer, read 10 November 2026.
- NJ DOBI Auto Insurance Buyer's Guide 2026, pp. 2, 6; DOBI health insurance as primary
- N.J.S.A. 2A:15-5.1; NJ DOBI comparative negligence FAQ
- N.J.S.A. 39:4-130; NJDOT self-reporting crash form
- N.J.S.A. 2A:14-2; N.J.S.A. 59:8-8
How we counted
- Records: every NJDOT crash record for Clifton City, Passaic County, 2023 to 2025, via the open-source nj-crashes project, deaths added from the State Police feed. 2023 and 2024 are complete; 2025 is preliminary.
- An injury accident has at least one person hurt or killed. Clifton holds 27.7 percent of Passaic County's 7,917.
- Roads: route number plus state road name, NJDOT "SECONDARY" spellings included.
- Corners and cross streets use 2024 and 2025, names as typed (Third and 3rd Street kept apart; Main Avenue and Broad Street spellings added together), so they are minimums. A full recompute found exactly eight corners at 5.
- "Dark" means any dark light code. These are counts, not risk rates.