Had a car accident on I-78? 1,667 people were hurt here in two years, and milepost 52 in Union Township is the worst spot.

By Sandra H. Brown, Injuries Cases Autos research. Updated 11 November 2026

I-78 in New Jersey had 1,195 accidents in 2023 and 2024 where someone was hurt or killed, about 1.6 a day. They hurt 1,667 people and killed 21. The worst mile is milepost 52 in Union Township, with 91 injury accidents in 2024 and 2025.¹

Where on I-78 do the most injury accidents happen?

Between Springfield and Jersey City: all ten of the busiest miles for injury accidents are in Union, Essex or Hudson County. Milepost 52 in Union Township and milepost 66 in Jersey City lead by a wide margin. For the Newark miles, see truck crash help in Essex County.

Mile 58 in Newark, where records most often name I-95, has the most accidents of any kind (439), but fewer of them hurt someone. Miles 61 and 53 tie at 36 in tenth place; mile 60 in Newark is next with 33.

The local side of these miles is on our pages for Union Township crash data, Newark crash page and Jersey City crash page.

Who died on I-78, and why were so many outside a moving car?

From 2023 to 2025, 28 fatal accidents on I-78 killed 31 people, and 13 of them died on foot or in an accident that began at a stopped vehicle.

Eight of those killed were pedestrians, on foot on or beside an interstate. Five fatal accidents began with a moving vehicle hitting a parked one, and they killed 6 people. In 2024 alone, four of the 11 fatal accidents began that way.

Darkness stands out too. 22 of the 28 fatal accidents happened in the dark, against about 36 percent of the injury accidents in 2023 and 2024. Ten were on stretches coded "dark, no street lights".

If you were hit on foot, our guide to whether PIP covers you as a pedestrian explains who pays the medical bills. Families who lost someone can read our New Jersey wrongful death guide.

Have New Jersey appeals courts ruled on crashes at a stopped vehicle?

Yes, and two of the four such decisions in our file turned on PIP, the no-fault medical cover, rather than on who hit whom.

In Bell v. Hardy (2025, Essex), a driver whose parked vehicle was struck was held "statutorily barred" from suing the other driver. The other three, including a fatal rear-end crash into a tractor-trailer parked on a highway shoulder, were affirmed and are listed in our New Jersey car accident appeals index.⁴

Is the western end of I-78 safer?

It has far fewer injury accidents, not fewer deaths: Hunterdon and Warren counties had 7 of the 21 deaths on I-78 in 2023 and 2024.

Deer are the western hazard. A deer was the first thing hit in 69 Hunterdon accidents and 63 in Somerset, against 6 in Essex, and Route 31 animal and curve crashes cross I-78 at Clinton. Our guide to hitting a deer in New Jersey covers reporting it and who pays.

In Somerset County, Warren Township alone had 4 deaths on I-78 in 2023 and 2024. Crashes on the county's other main roads are on our Bridgewater Township crash data and Franklin Township crash data pages.

When do I-78 accidents happen, and what kind are they?

Most often on the evening commute: 5 pm to 6 pm had the most injury accidents in 2023 and 2024 (101).

The three hours from 3 pm to 6 pm held 260, about 22 percent. October had the most of any month (135) and February the fewest (72). Tuesday was the worst day (189) and Wednesday the quietest (152).

Rear-end accidents are 43 percent of injury accidents (518 of 1,195), sideswipes 24 percent and fixed objects such as guide rails 21 percent. See our rear-end crash guide and the statewide hour-by-hour page.⁶

Who takes the report for an I-78 crash?

Mostly a reporting station, not a town: records name Somerville, Perryville or Newark station for 66 percent of I-78 accidents in 2023 and 2024.

Hudson County is the exception. Only 32 percent of records there name a station, and 99.5 percent code the road "State Authority". Our guide to reading a New Jersey crash report explains codes like these.⁷

Fees, waits and ordering steps by agency are on our New Jersey crash report guide, with city routes on the Newark and Jersey City pages above. Hudson County towns are on the Hudson County car accident hub.