Paterson NJ car accidents: 451 pedestrian accidents in two years, twice the state's share
Paterson had 2,785 police-reported car accidents in 2023 and 2024 in which someone was hurt or killed, the second most of any New Jersey municipality. They hurt 3,967 people and killed 18. People on foot stand out: pedestrian accidents are 13.5% of them, against 6.6% statewide.
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Is Paterson, NJ a bad area for car accidents?
By the counts, yes: Paterson ranks second of all New Jersey municipalities, with 2,785 injury accidents in 2023 and 2024, 2.5% of the state's total.
People on foot carry more of that load than anywhere nearby. Paterson holds 5.3% of New Jersey's pedestrian accidents and 54% of Passaic County's, from a city with 35% of the county's injury accidents.
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| Year | Pedestrian accidents | Pedestrians killed | All people killed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 198 | 1 | 8 |
| 2024 | 253 | 2 | 10 |
| 2025 (preliminary, incomplete) | 124 | 5 | 9 |
The preliminary 2025 file already lists five pedestrians killed, more than 2023 and 2024 together. In 2023 and 2024, 376 of the 451 pedestrian accidents hurt or killed someone.1
If you were hit while walking, our guide for pedestrians hit by a car in New Jersey covers PIP and the next steps. For the first days after any crash here, use the New Jersey after-accident checklist.
Which Paterson roads have the most injury accidents?
Local streets without a route number carry the most, 1,303 of 2,785. I-80 is the busiest numbered road, followed by Route 20 and a grid of county roads.
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| Route (main street names in the records) | Hurt or killed | All accidents | Killed | Pedestrian accidents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local streets (no route number) | 1,303 | 5,985 | 5 | 232 |
| I-80 | 280 | 1,261 | 1 | 6 |
| Route 20 (McLean Boulevard) | 153 | 594 | 2 | 3 |
| County Road 649 (Madison Avenue) | 146 | 425 | 2 | 23 |
| County Road 648 (Market Street) | 124 | 450 | 0 | 29 |
| County Road 647 (Straight Street, Getty Avenue) | 101 | 389 | 0 | 24 |
| County Road 509 (Main Street, West Broadway) | 101 | 363 | 0 | 26 |
| County Road 646 (Union Avenue) | 77 | 228 | 0 | 12 |
| County Road 601 (Main Street) | 58 | 253 | 0 | 22 |
| Route 19 | 27 | 103 | 2 | 4 |
Pedestrians are hit on the county roads and city streets, not the highways. Market Street and County Road 509 each had more pedestrian accidents than I-80 and Route 20 combined.
The Paterson stretch of I-80 is mileposts 58 to 60 on our I-80 accident data by milepost. Next door, compare Clifton car accident data, second in Passaic County, Passaic city accident counts and Wayne accident counts on I-80.
What are the most dangerous intersections in Paterson?
Memorial Drive at West Broadway, 9 injury accidents in 2024 and 2025, tops the list. Memorial Drive appears at four of the 15 Paterson corners with five or more.
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| Intersection | Hurt or killed | Of which 2025 | All accidents | People hurt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Memorial Drive at West Broadway (County Road 509) | 9 | 3 | 15 | 14 |
| 11th Avenue at East 18th Street | 7 | 1 | 11 | 11 |
| 16th Avenue at Summer Street | 7 | 0 | 9 | 7 |
| Florida Avenue at Trenton Avenue | 6 | 6 | 11 | 11 |
| Route 20 at Morlot Avenue and East 33rd Street | 6 | 0 | 10 | 7 |
| North Main Street at Haledon Avenue | 6 | 2 | 10 | 12 |
All 15 corners with five or more injury accidents
| Intersection | Hurt or killed (2024 + 2025) | Of which 2025 | All accidents | People hurt | Killed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Memorial Drive at West Broadway (County Road 509) | 9 | 3 | 15 | 14 | 0 |
| 11th Avenue at East 18th Street | 7 | 1 | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| 16th Avenue at Summer Street | 7 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 0 |
| Florida Avenue at Trenton Avenue | 6 | 6 | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| Route 20 at Morlot Avenue and East 33rd Street | 6 | 0 | 10 | 7 | 0 |
| North Main Street at Haledon Avenue | 6 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 0 |
| Market Street at Memorial Drive | 5 | 2 | 13 | 4 | 1 |
| Broadway at East 27th Street | 5 | 2 | 12 | 9 | 0 |
| East 16th Street at Lafayette Avenue | 5 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 0 |
| East 24th Street at Market Street | 5 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 0 |
| Lexington Avenue at Union Avenue | 5 | 1 | 10 | 12 | 0 |
| 4th Avenue at Madison Avenue | 5 | 0 | 9 | 6 | 0 |
| College Boulevard at Memorial Drive | 5 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 0 |
| Broadway at Memorial Drive, Ward Street, Curtis Place and Cianci Street | 5 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Leslie Street at Main Street | 5 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
Florida Avenue at Trenton Avenue is the odd one: all six of its injury accidents are in the 2025 file, none in 2024. Our statewide ranking of New Jersey intersections shows how these corners compare.
Are right-angle crashes more common than rear-end ones in Paterson?
Yes. Right-angle crashes are 31.4% of Paterson's injury accidents and rear-end crashes 19.3%, the reverse of the state pattern.
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| Accident type (police code) | Paterson, share of all accidents | Statewide, share of all accidents | Paterson, share of injury accidents | Statewide, share of injury accidents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Struck parked vehicle | 21.3% | 11.4% | 4.8% | 3.4% |
| Right angle | 20.6% | 14.6% | 31.4% | 22.4% |
| Rear end | 18.3% | 27.1% | 19.3% | 30.7% |
| Same-direction sideswipe | 16.4% | 18.0% | 9.3% | 8.5% |
| Fixed object | 5.0% | 11.0% | 4.7% | 11.6% |
| Backing | 4.3% | 3.6% | 1.5% | 0.7% |
| Pedestrian | 3.9% | 1.7% | 13.5% | 6.6% |
| Head on or angular, opposite direction | 3.5% | 1.5% | 6.1% | 3.2% |
Hitting a parked car is the most common record of all, 2,442 of 11,466, yet only 133 hurt anyone. For a corner side impact, see our side-impact accident guide.
How do I look up an accident report in Paterson, NJ?
I-80 reports come from the NJSP crash reports portal. Route 20, Route 19 and city street reports come from the Paterson Police Division through BuyCrash.
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| Road | Records naming Totowa station | Records with no station | All records |
|---|---|---|---|
| I-80 | 1,155 | 80 | 1,237 |
| Route 20 | 5 | 474 | 479 |
| Route 19 | 3 | 119 | 122 |
| All other Paterson roads | 7 | 8,053 | 8,060 |
- I-80 (State Police, Totowa): request the report on the NJSP crash reports portal. The same station covers Woodland Park crash data next door.
- Route 20, Route 19 and city streets (Paterson Police): the department's reports page links accident reports to the LexisNexis BuyCrash portal and states no fee or wait.
- In person: the Records Division is open Monday and Friday 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Tuesday and Thursday 11:00 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., closed Wednesday and weekends.5
The State Police fee, the Turnpike and Parkway routes and what to check once the report arrives are in our agency by agency report guide.
What happened in the fatal car accidents in Paterson?
Most happened after dark: 13 of the 18 people killed in 2023 and 2024 died in accidents police coded as dark, 10 of them on streets with continuous street lights.
Five of the 18 died on local streets, two each on Route 20, Madison Avenue and Route 19, and one on I-80. Pedestrian deaths went from 1 in 2023 to 2 in 2024, then 5 in the preliminary 2025 file.
Darkness weighs more here than statewide. Dark accidents were 35% of Paterson's injury accidents, against 28% across New Jersey.6
More Paterson questions
When do most accidents happen in Paterson?
Friday and Sunday tie for the most injury accidents, 449 each. The busiest three hours are 3 pm to 6 pm, with 602 of the 2,785. Our statewide hour-by-hour data has the New Jersey pattern.
Was there a hit and run in Paterson, New Jersey today?
This page holds police records through 2025, not live news. Our hit-and-run claim guide and the after-accident checklist cover what to do next.
How hard is it to win a car accident lawsuit after a Paterson crash?
The city does not change the rules. Our count of how often injured people win NJ car accident appeals has the figures by issue. Across the border, see Fair Lawn Route 208 and Route 4 crashes.
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 Paterson. 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. 7
- 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. 8
- 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. 9
- 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. 10
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 Paterson? 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 nj-crashes project, deaths supplemented from the NJ State Police feed; our count. Passaic County: 835 pedestrian and 7,917 injury accidents. Statewide: 8,521 pedestrian accidents of 112,966.
- NJDOT crash records via nj-crashes, grouped by NJDOT route number, which joins spelling variants of the same road; our count.
- NJDOT crash records via nj-crashes; our count of accidents NJDOT flags as intersection accidents, by the pair of street names on the report.
- NJDOT crash records via nj-crashes, collision type as coded by police; our count.
- NJDOT crash records via nj-crashes, station field, our count. NJSP and NJTA crash reports portal. Paterson Police Division, reports and resources page (our agency table).
- NJDOT crash records via nj-crashes, light condition, route and person type as coded by police; our count.
- 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
- Every NJDOT crash record coded to Paterson City, 2023 to 2025, via the open-source nj-crashes project (downloaded 6 November 2026), deaths supplemented from the State Police feed. An injury accident has at least one person hurt or killed.
- Headline figures use 2023 and 2024. The 2025 file holds 64.6% as many Paterson records as 2024 (98.3% statewide), so it is preliminary.
- Corners and stations use 2024 and 2025, because the 2023 export names streets differently and mostly leaves the station field empty. Names are counted as typed, so corner totals are minimums. A filled station field is read as a State Police report.
- Counts, not risk rates; nothing about fault or claim value.