Route 4 NJ accident: 551 injury crashes in two years, no deaths, and town police hold the reports
After a Route 4 accident, the report most likely sits with the town police: 2,792 of 2,793 Route 4 records from 2024 and 2025 leave the State Police station field blank. Those two years held 551 injury crashes, 819 people hurt and no deaths.
Hurt in a Route 4 accident between Paterson and Fort Lee? 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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Which police department has my Route 4 accident report?
Most likely the department of the town where you crashed: the records place Route 4's ten miles in nine towns. Read the table from west to east: Paterson at milepost 0, Fort Lee by the George Washington Bridge at milepost 10.
See the full table
| Town (county) | Median milepost | All accidents | Someone hurt or killed, 2024 | Someone hurt or killed, 2025 (preliminary) | People hurt, both years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paterson (Passaic) | 0.0 | 28 | 5 | 5 | 12 |
| Elmwood Park (Bergen) | 0.5 | 119 | 13 | 24 | 57 |
| Fair Lawn (Bergen) | 1.6 | 210 | 32 | 24 | 82 |
| Paramus (Bergen) | 3.5 | 997 | 101 | 100 | 264 |
| River Edge (Bergen) | 5.3 | 83 | 9 | 5 | 17 |
| Hackensack (Bergen) | 5.7 | 258 | 22 | 20 | 69 |
| Teaneck (Bergen) | 7.1 | 594 | 49 | 65 | 204 |
| Englewood (Bergen) | 9.1 | 403 | 29 | 30 | 88 |
| Fort Lee (Bergen) | 10.3 | 100 | 7 | 11 | 26 |
Teaneck stands out for severity: 204 people hurt in 114 injury crashes, about 1.8 per crash, against 1.3 in Paramus. Records desks for Teaneck, Hackensack and the State Police portal are in the Bergen County report contacts table. Paramus hours and its online route are on our Paramus crash report section.
Where on Route 4 do the most injury crashes happen?
At mileposts 2 and 3 in Paramus, which held 151 injury crashes in 2024 and 2025. Milepost 3, around Fairview Avenue, is the single worst mile with 86.
See the full table
| Milepost | Main town | Cross street named most (records) | Someone hurt or killed | All accidents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Elmwood Park | Route 20, McLean Boulevard (16) | 64 | 183 |
| 1 | Fair Lawn | 26th Street (18) | 34 | 119 |
| 2 | Paramus | Paramus Road (74) | 65 | 322 |
| 3 | Paramus | Fairview Avenue (64) | 86 | 483 |
| 4 | Paramus | Forest Avenue (48) | 55 | 246 |
| 5 | Hackensack | Hackensack Avenue (96) | 55 | 340 |
| 6 | Teaneck | Belle Avenue (72) | 56 | 281 |
| 7 | Teaneck | Queen Anne Road (38) | 45 | 260 |
| 8 | Englewood | South Van Brunt Street (24) | 29 | 185 |
| 9 | Englewood | Jones Road (39) | 41 | 259 |
| 10 | Fort Lee | US 9W, Fletcher Avenue (15) | 18 | 101 |
Three cross streets tie for the most injury crashes, 17 each: Hackensack Avenue in Hackensack, Belle Avenue in Teaneck and Paramus Road in Paramus. Next outside Paramus come River Road in Teaneck (11, with 22 people hurt) and Garrison Avenue in Teaneck (9).
The Paramus crossings and store entrances are ranked in our Route 4 and Route 17 shopping trip crash guide. The west end continues in Fair Lawn's Route 4 and Route 208 crash data.
Is Route 4 dangerous? How many people have died?
Among the 50 state routes with the most injury crashes in 2024 and 2025, only Route 4 and Route 24 recorded no deaths. Route 4 ranked 27th, with 551 injury crashes.
See the full table
| Road | Rank by injury crashes among state routes | Someone hurt or killed | People killed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garden State Parkway | 1 | 3,752 | 40 |
| I-80 | 5 | 1,893 | 26 |
| Route 46 | 7 | 1,444 | 15 |
| Route 17 | 19 | 741 | 4 |
| Route 3 | 22 | 691 | 2 |
| Route 4 | 27 | 551 | 0 |
The last recorded death came in April 2023: a rear-end crash at Spring Valley Road in Paramus, after dark. Pedestrians were in 10 of the 551 injury crashes. The parallel road is covered in Route 17 crash data by town and cross street.
What kind of crash is most common on Route 4?
Rear-end crashes: 343 of 551 injury crashes, 62 percent, double the statewide 31 percent. Same-direction sideswipes added 17 percent, against 9 percent statewide.
See the full table
| Crash type (as coded by police) | Route 4 count | Route 4 share | Statewide share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Same direction, rear end | 343 | 62.3% | 30.7% |
| Same direction, sideswipe | 96 | 17.4% | 8.9% |
| Fixed object | 39 | 7.1% | 11.5% |
| Right angle | 24 | 4.4% | 22.0% |
| Pedestrian | 10 | 1.8% | 6.5% |
Police flagged alcohol on 31 Route 4 crashes, and 17 of them hurt someone, against about 1 in 5 of all Route 4 crashes.
Next steps after being hit from behind are in our guide to rear-end crashes in New Jersey. For a lane-change hit, see the side impact collision guide.
When do Route 4 crashes happen?
In the evening commute: 3 pm to 6 pm held 141 of 551 injury crashes, 26 percent, and the 5 pm hour was the worst (53). Friday had the most (92) and Thursday the fewest (63).
Two in three injury crashes happened in daylight (363). The statewide hour and weekday pattern is on its own page.6
Why do 2023 Route 4 numbers look so low?
Because most 2023 Route 4 records are missing outside Paramus, Fair Lawn, Fort Lee and River Edge. Teaneck has 3 Route 4 records in 2023 against 273 in 2024; Englewood 12 against 205; Hackensack 8 against 127.
Teaneck's all-road total rose 21 percent (1,305 to 1,580) while its Route 4 count went from 3 to 273. That looks like a coding gap in the 2023 export, not fewer crashes. Elmwood Park's all-road total more than doubled (373 to 902), so the gap may reach beyond Route 4.
Any Route 4 figure built on 2023 records undercounts the road, including older counts in our ranking of the most dangerous roads in New Jersey and Paramus car accident data. That is why this page uses 2024 and 2025.7
Route 4 accident questions
Was there an accident on Route 4 in New Jersey today?
We have no live feed. For a crash today, call the police of the town where it happened; Paramus and Teaneck recorded over half of Route 4's injury crashes.
How do I get a Route 4 accident report online?
Ask the town department named on your case number slip; some sell reports through online vendors. Fees, waits and the form to use when no officer came are in our New Jersey accident report guide, agency by agency.
Who handles a crash at the Route 4 and Route 17 interchange?
The records place the interchange in Paramus: 92 crashes there in 2024 and 2025, 17 with someone hurt. Intersection rankings statewide are on the most dangerous intersections in New Jersey.
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 on Route 4. 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 on Route 4? 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
- Our analysis of NJDOT crash records 2023 to 2025 via hudcostreets/nj-crashes, fatal crashes supplemented from the NJ State Police fatal feed; 2025 is preliminary.
- Our analysis of NJDOT crash records 2024 and 2025 via hudcostreets/nj-crashes, station and municipality fields; treating a blank station field as town police is our reading, not an NJDOT definition.
- Our analysis of NJDOT crash records 2024 and 2025 via hudcostreets/nj-crashes, milepost field cut into whole miles; cross streets as police typed them.
- Our analysis of NJDOT crash records 2024 and 2025 via hudcostreets/nj-crashes, fatal crashes supplemented from the NJ State Police fatal feed; every route selected by the same rule.
- Our analysis of NJDOT crash records 2024 and 2025 via hudcostreets/nj-crashes, crash type field; statewide base 117,941 injury crashes.
- Our analysis of NJDOT crash records 2024 and 2025 via hudcostreets/nj-crashes, crash time and light fields.
- Our analysis of NJDOT crash records 2023 and 2024 via hudcostreets/nj-crashes, Route 4 and all-road records by municipality.
- 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
We counted NJDOT crash records, cleaned by hudcostreets/nj-crashes, with State Police fatal data added (downloaded 6 November 2026). A Route 4 record has route number 4 and a state road name ("NJ 4", "NJ 4 (Mackay Highway)" and others), which drops county roads numbered 4.
Totals use 2024 and preliminary 2025 because of the 2023 gap above. Cross streets are ranked as typed, so counts are a floor. One stray Clifton record is left out of the town table.