Stop 1 of 14 · How often
One crash every 268 minutes, on average
Police reported 15,192 crashes in Hackensack from January 1, 2019 to September 30, 2026, about 5 a day.
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's crash dashboard, saved November 3, 2026.
Hackensack's most dangerous roads
From January 1, 2019 to September 30, 2026, 152 crashes in Hackensack killed or seriously hurt someone, NJDOT's public records show as of November 3, 2026. Essex Street had the most, 19. People on foot were in 41% of the crashes that killed someone, and 4 to 8 pm was the worst time of day.
Stop 2 of 14 · The worst crashes
1 in 100 crashes killed or seriously hurt someone
That's 152 of 15,192. Police rate each crash by its worst injury, on a five-step scale. Most hurt no one.
In the picture: Every crash, 15,192 of them, as a dot in one disc, laid out like the seeds of a sunflower, with the 152 that killed or seriously hurt someone in red. Then a lens opens on its middle: in every 100 crashes, on average, 1 killed or seriously hurt someone, 19 had a minor or possible injury and 80 hurt no one.
- 17 killed someone
- 135 serious injury
- 1,107 minor injury
- 1,825 possible injury
- 12,108 no injury
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's crash dashboard, January 2019 to September 2026.
Stop 3 of 14 · The worst roads
54% of crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone were on just 10 roads
82 of the 152 were on these 10. In all, 45 roads had at least one.
- 1Essex Street19
- 2Prospect Avenue11
- 3Interstate 809
- 4Route 48
- 5Polifly Road7
- 5River Street7
- 7Summit Avenue6
- 8East Passaic Street5
- 8Atlantic Street5
- 8South River Street5
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's crash dashboard. Ties share a rank.
Stop 4 of 14 · The worst road
19 crashes on Essex Street killed or seriously hurt someone
The most of any road. 3 of them killed someone. 7 involved someone on foot. Its worst cross street: South State Street, with 5.
NJDOT crash dashboard, January 2019 to September 2026.
Stop 5 of 14 · Per mile driven
6.7 crashes that hurt someone per million miles driven on Atlantic Street
Essex Street has the most crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone. Per mile driven, counting every crash that hurt someone, Atlantic Street comes first of 8 roads with traffic counts, with about 3,500 cars a day. Route 4, the busiest at about 110,600, has 0.4.
In the picture: The map closes in on Atlantic Street, drawn in white, with its crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone in red.
- Atlantic Street6.7
- Polifly Road2.9
- Prospect Avenue2.4
- Essex Street2.2
- Summit Avenue1.5
- River Street1.5
- East Passaic Street0.9
- Route 40.4
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT crash records and FHWA traffic counts, 2020 to 2025. Traffic counts are estimates, so a rate is too.
Stop 6 of 14 · The worst corner
25 people hurt at Hackensack Ave and Route 4 in 2025
The most of any corner that year. 111 crashes, no one killed.
In the picture: The map dives into the corner where Hackensack Ave meets Route 4, and its ground tilts up into a 3D model of it, its two streets at the angles they really run, with a red pin for each of the 25 people hurt there in 2025. The pins stand together at the corner: the records don't say where at it each person was hurt.
NJDOT crash dashboard, 2025. Corners group reports by the two street names police wrote.
Stop 7 of 14 · People on foot
41% of crashes that killed someone involved a person on foot
Someone on foot was in 3% of all crashes. The worse the crash, the bigger that share. A crash with someone on foot was 19 times as likely to kill or seriously hurt someone as a crash with only people in vehicles: 1 in 9, against 1 in 167.
In the picture: A dot for each crash. The dots gather into a person walking, a bike, a motorcycle and a car, then pour into four columns: someone on foot, on a bike, on a motorcycle, and only people in vehicles, each with its picture on top. The crashes that killed someone are bright, and each column counts them.
- All 15,192 crashes3%
- Crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone31%
- Crashes that killed someone (7 of 17)41%
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's crash dashboard. Each crash counts once: someone on foot, then on a bike, then a motorcycle.
Stop 8 of 14 · Crosswalks
21% of people hurt on foot were crossing in a marked crosswalk
Police wrote that 45 of the 216 people hurt on foot from 2019 to 2023 were crossing in a marked crosswalk at a corner.
In the picture: A street corner from above. Of every 100 people hurt on foot, 21 were in one of its marked crosswalks and 19 were crossing somewhere else. The other 60 were doing something else, or police didn't say.
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's final crash tables, 2019 to 2023. What police wrote isn't a finding of fault.
Stop 9 of 14 · Hit-and-runs
14% of crashes that hurt someone on foot were hit-and-runs
In 30 of 214, the driver left. In 38% of crashes that hurt someone on foot, a driver was turning left.
In the picture: 100 crashes that hurt someone on foot, each a person and the car that hit them. In 14, the car drives away and leaves the person behind.
After a hit-and-run: what to do and who pays
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's final crash tables, 2019 to 2023.
Stop 10 of 14 · Time of day
47% of crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone happened between 4 pm and midnight
That's 72 of the 152 with a time on the report, in 8 of the day's 24 hours. 4 to 8 pm and 8 pm to midnight had the most, 37 and 35.
In the picture: A 24-hour clock with one dot for each crash, at the hour it happened. The slice from 4 pm to midnight is shaded, with its share in the middle.
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's crash dashboard.
Stop 11 of 14 · After dark
58% of crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone from November to January happened after dark
That's 22 of 38 with a time on the report. From May to July, 35% did. Clocks fall back in early November, and evenings go dark an hour sooner.
In the picture: Two 24-hour days, November to January above May to July, each with its own sky: night, sunrise, day and sunset. Each crash is a dot at the time it happened, stacked by the half hour. The sun sets and night spreads to the next sunrise, turning red each crash after dark on its own date, so the red part of each day is its share after dark. Under each, that season's sunsets.
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's crash dashboard, by each day's sunset and sunrise in Hackensack.
Stop 12 of 14 · Where drivers live
76% of drivers in crashes that hurt someone live outside Hackensack
Police wrote down a home for 3,586 drivers. 2,722 of them live somewhere else, including 306 in New York.
In the picture: Of every 100 drivers with a home on the report, 24 live in Hackensack, 64 in the rest of New Jersey, 9 in New York and 3 in other states.
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's final crash tables, 2019 to 2023.
Stop 13 of 14 · Year by year
28 crashes killed or seriously hurt someone in 2019, the most of any full year
2026 runs through September 30, 2026.
In the picture: A row for each year, like the rods of an abacus. Each crash lands on its year's row at the day of the year it happened, then the dots slide left into a bar with the year's count at its end. 2019 is marked the most. 2026's row stops where the records do.
NJDOT crash dashboard, January 2019 to September 2026.
Stop 14 of 14 · Your street
Now find your street
See where any street in Hackensack ranks, how many crashes police reported on it, and when the ones that hurt someone happened. The map below has every crash.
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's crash dashboard, January 2019 to September 2026, saved November 3, 2026. Streets come from the road names police wrote, and a crash at a corner counts on both streets.
Explore every crash
Filter by injury, who was hurt, vehicle, year and time of day. Find your street, and ride along it in street view.
Hackensack crash map
NJDOT police crash records (form NJTR-1), 2019 to 2026, saved November 3, 2026. 21 of the 152 have no usable map point and still count in every total. Dots sit where NJDOT placed each crash. City outline: City of Hackensack. Streets and water in the picture: U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line 2026. Live map: OpenFreeMap, data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
152crashes killed or seriously hurt someone
17crashes killed someone. 19 people died.
135crashes seriously hurt someone
15,192crashes reported to police in all
For the map's filters.
01The roads
54% of crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone were on these 10 roads
82 of the 152 were on these 10 roads, out of 45 roads with at least one. Counts aren't adjusted for traffic or road length, and a long, busy road will have more.
A crash that seriously hurt someoneA crash that killed someone
19 crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone
3 killed someone7 on foot
11 crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone
No one killed4 on foot
9 crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone
2 killed someone0 on foot
8 crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone
No one killed1 on foot
7 crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone
3 killed someone2 on foot
7 crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone
No one killed3 on foot
6 crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone
No one killed0 on foot
5 crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone
1 killed someone1 on foot
5 crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone
No one killed2 on foot
5 crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone
No one killed2 on foot
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's crash dashboard, January 2019 to September 2026. Each number counts crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone, and a tie shares its rank. 5 of these crashes have no map point, so they aren't drawn.
02Per mile driven
Per mile driven, Atlantic Street had the most crashes that hurt someone
6.7 per million miles on Atlantic Street, which carries about 3,500 cars a day. Route 4 carries the most, about 110,600 a day, and had 0.4. Crash counts rise with traffic. These divide each road's crashes that hurt someone by the miles driven on it, 2020 to 2025.
Per million miles drivenThe range chance alone could give itNew Jersey, every road, 2022
Atlantic Street: 6.7 crashes that hurt someone per million miles driven, from 45 crashes. Chance alone could put it anywhere from 4.9 to 9.0. About 3,500 cars a day.
Polifly Road: 2.9 crashes that hurt someone per million miles driven, from 99 crashes. Chance alone could put it anywhere from 2.4 to 3.5. About 21,400 cars a day.
Prospect Avenue: 2.4 crashes that hurt someone per million miles driven, from 51 crashes. Chance alone could put it anywhere from 1.8 to 3.1. About 7,400 cars a day.
Essex Street: 2.2 crashes that hurt someone per million miles driven, from 138 crashes. Chance alone could put it anywhere from 1.8 to 2.5. About 23,600 cars a day.
Summit Avenue: 1.5 crashes that hurt someone per million miles driven, from 92 crashes. Chance alone could put it anywhere from 1.2 to 1.9. About 14,800 cars a day.
River Street: 1.5 crashes that hurt someone per million miles driven, from 78 crashes. Chance alone could put it anywhere from 1.2 to 1.9. About 27,000 cars a day.
East Passaic Street: 0.9 crashes that hurt someone per million miles driven, from 27 crashes. Chance alone could put it anywhere from 0.6 to 1.3. About 13,000 cars a day.
Route 4: 0.4 crashes that hurt someone per million miles driven, from 60 crashes. Chance alone could put it anywhere from 0.3 to 0.5. About 110,600 cars a day.
No rate yet
- Interstate 80: most of it has no traffic count.
- South River Street: most of its crashes sit off the stretch with a traffic count.
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT crash records and FHWA traffic counts, 2020 to 2025. A rate counts a road's crashes that hurt someone where a traffic count runs beside them, over the miles driven there: each stretch's cars a day, times its length, times the days. Traffic counts are estimates too. Each road's line shows the range chance alone could give it (95%). Cars a day are FHWA's 2025 counts. Sources: FHWA traffic counts, saved October 31, 2026; NJDOT statewide crash rates, checked October 26, 2026.
03The hours
47% of crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone happened between 4 pm and midnight
That's 72 of the 152 with a time on the report, in 8 of the day's 24 hours.
4 pm to midnightOther hoursPoint at or tap an hour to see its count.
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's crash dashboard, January 2019 to September 2026. Each bar is an hour of the day, its area set by its count.
04The week
Crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone, by day of the week and time of day
Each square is a day of the week and 4 hours of the day.
| Day | 12 to 4 am | 4 to 8 am | 8 am to noon | Noon to 4 pm | 4 to 8 pm | 8 pm to midnight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 4 |
| Tuesday | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Wednesday | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 3 |
| Thursday | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 2 |
| Friday | 3 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 8 |
| Saturday | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| Sunday | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
FewerMoreOutlined: the 2 squares with 10
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's crash dashboard, January 2019 to September 2026. Each square counts crashes that killed or seriously hurt someone on that day of the week, in those 4 hours.
05What police wrote
21% of people hurt on foot were crossing in a marked crosswalk at a corner
From the full police reports, 2019 to 2023. What police wrote isn't a finding of fault.
14%
of crashes that hurt someone on foot were hit-and-runs, where a driver left: 30 of 214.
38%
of crashes that hurt someone on foot, a driver was turning left: 81 of 214.
21%
of people hurt on foot were crossing in a marked crosswalk at a corner: 45 of 216.
76%
of drivers in crashes that hurt someone live outside Hackensack: 2,722 of 3,586 with a home on the report. 9% live in New York.
17%
of injuries police wrote down were to the neck: 442 of 2,541. Then the back (399), the head (384) and the knee, lower leg or foot (289).
These run from 2019 to 2023. They come from NJDOT's final crash tables, which keep what police wrote on each report. The rest of this page reads NJDOT's dashboard, through September 30, 2026.
Each bar shows the share in its sentence.
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's final crash tables, 2019 to 2023. What police wrote on each crash report (form NJTR-1), 2019 to 2023, the newest years NJDOT has published in full. It isn't a finding of fault. Source: NJDOT crash tables, checked October 31, 2026.
06What makes a crash worse
A crash with someone on foot was 19 times as likely to kill or seriously hurt someone as a crash with only people in vehicles
Each line compares crashes after they happened, or the people in them: how often someone was killed or seriously hurt. None of them says how likely anyone is to crash.
Crashes with someone on foot were 19× as likely to kill or seriously hurt someone as crashes with only people in vehicles
1 in 9 crashes with someone on foot killed or seriously hurt someone: 47 of 411.
1 in 167 crashes with only people in vehicles killed or seriously hurt someone: 87 of 14,531.
Each grid is 100 crashes. Filled: the ones that killed or seriously hurt someone.
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's crash dashboard, January 2019 to September 2026.
Crashes involving a motorcycle were At least 12× as likely to kill or seriously hurt someone as crashes with only people in vehicles
Only 13 crashes involving a motorcycle killed or seriously hurt someone, so this line gives the low end of what the records support.
1 in 8 crashes involving a motorcycle killed or seriously hurt someone: 13 of 102.
1 in 167 crashes with only people in vehicles killed or seriously hurt someone: 87 of 14,531.
Each grid is 100 crashes. Filled: the ones that killed or seriously hurt someone.
Counselworthy analysis of NJDOT's crash dashboard, January 2019 to September 2026.
Crashes are set against crashes, and people against people, so how busy a street or an hour is doesn't skew it. Where few crashes stand behind a number, it says “at least” and gives the low end of what the records support. Each line's source is under it.
Hurt in a crash in Hackensack?
General information, not legal advice. If you want a lawyer, compare the car accident firms we ranked in Hackensack before you call.
The insurer calls firstWhat to know before you talk to the adjuster.The adjuster keeps callingWhat crashes settle forPublished numbers, and what they leave out.Settlement numbersLimits on pain and sufferingWhen New Jersey lets you sue for it after a crash.The verbal threshold, explainedWhat you'd keepA settlement minus costs and New Jersey's capped fee.Take-home calculator
Guides on car accidents
How we counted
13 notes on what these police records leave out.
- Every crash NJDOT's public crash dashboard lists for Hackensack from January 1, 2019 to September 30, 2026: 15,192 crashes, saved November 3, 2026. NJDOT calls these records preliminary. New crashes can take weeks to appear, and older ones can change.
- Killed or seriously hurt means the worst injury in the crash was a death or a suspected serious injury, the top two of the five levels police use. We count crashes, not people.
- NJDOT's dashboard also lists 5 deaths in 5 crashes it rates below fatal. A record that lists a death but rates the crash below fatal contradicts itself, so the totals leave them out and count deaths only in crashes rated fatal. NJDOT's final crash tables also count fewer deaths than the dashboard in 2 of the 5 years we checked. The crash file lists every death as NJDOT recorded it, so anyone can check.
- A crash counts toward a road when the police report puts it there. Spellings of one road count as one: "BERGEN COUNTY 56 I" and "ESSEX STREET (BERGEN COUNTY 56 1)" are both Essex Street, by the city's own street map. Where one county route number covers two roads, the crash's location or cross street decides which. For 1,144 crashes, 12 of them ones that killed or seriously hurt someone, the report gives the route and nothing that settles it, so they count in every total but no road's rank.
- NJDOT's dashboard lists only 22 Hackensack crashes in January 2023, against about 188 in a usual January, so its records for that month look incomplete. We keep every record NJDOT has, and leave that month out of the season averages.
- Dots sit where NJDOT placed each crash. Where NJDOT's records give no point, mostly before 2023, the dot sits where the two streets on the police report meet, on the city's own street map. We checked that on 3,844 crashes that have both: half land within 23 meters of the report's point, and 9 in 10 within 132. 131 of the 152 crashes have a location. We don't guess the other 21, and they still count in every total.
- Counts are not adjusted for traffic or road length. A long, busy road like Essex Street will have more crashes. The per mile driven chart is adjusted (next note).
- Per mile driven divides a road's crashes that hurt someone, 2020 to 2025, by the miles driven on it: FHWA's traffic counts (the average cars a day New Jersey reports for each stretch), times the stretch's length, times the days, year by year. Only crashes beside a counted stretch count. A road gets a rate with a count on 80% of its length, 80% of its crashes beside a count, at least 20 crashes, and federal and state counts within a quarter of each other where both exist. New Jersey's line is NJDOT's own fatal and injury crashes over its miles driven on every road in 2022, highways included. Traffic counts are estimates, so a rate is too.
- Vehicle shares use every crash involving that kind of vehicle. A crash with a car and a motorcycle counts for both.
- Seasons use the 7 full years, 2019 to 2025, and divide by the days in each month.
- For 2019 to 2023, yearly crash counts here differ from NJDOT's final crash tables by 9.2% at most. We checked the tables on October 31, 2026.
- These are police reports. A crash nobody reported isn't here. If you need the report for your own crash, ask the police department that took it.
- Crash numbers never change a law firm's score.
Use this data
Every crash, every road and the top corners as CSV. Free under CC BY 4.0 with a link.
Free to reuse under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license: credit Counselworthy and link to this page. The crash file lists NJDOT's crash ID on every row, so anyone can check one. How we counted lists what these records leave out.
Cite this
Counselworthy, "Hackensack's most dangerous roads," from NJDOT public crash records, January 2019 to September 2026, saved November 3, 2026. counselworthy.com/nj/hackensack/crash-data/