South Brunswick police crack down on Route 1 speeding
Drivers along the corridor say the road can feel like a speedway.
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South Brunswick police have been ramping up patrols on one of the township’s busiest and most dangerous roads.
Over 14 hours from Wednesday night into Thursday morning, officers fanned out across the Route 1 corridor for a targeted enforcement detail. By the end of the operation, they had made 71 traffic stops and issued 45 summonses.
Drivers along the corridor say the road can feel like a speedway.
“I usually go maybe five miles over the speed limit, from 50 to 55, or 55 to 60. And I’ve had people blow the horn at me, and I’m in the slow lane. I’m in the slow lane, and I have people blowing at me,” said driver Keith Fields.
“They were looking at violations ranging from speeding to distracted driving, reckless driving, seatbelt violations and other hazardous motor vehicle violations,” said Lt. Raymond McCarthy of the South Brunswick Police Department.
Among the violations, one driver was clocked going 81 mph in a 55 mph zone.
McCarthy said officers are using crash data to identify problem areas for enforcement, which tend to be the corridor’s busiest intersections.
“We analyze crash data and we analyze the crash data to determine where crashes are occurring, why they're occurring and when they're occurring. And then based on that data will saturate the problem areas with the hope of curtailing the dangerous driving habits that lead to the crashes in the first place,” McCarthy said.
Police say the Route 1 crackdown isn’t a one-time push.
“This is a concerted, ongoing, monthlong initiative that we’re doing here,” McCarthy said. “We’ve seen an 8% increase in the number of motor vehicle stops conducted by our agency compared to the same period last year.”
