There have been seven fatal accidents on this 30-mile stretch of Interstate 78 through Aug. 28, 2016.
Sunday's fatal accident on Interstate 78 was the seventh on a 30-mile stretch of expressway from the Pennsylvania border to Interstate 287 in Somerset County.
The last time the number of fatal accidents on this stretch of expressway exceeded six was in 2006, when eight people died in crashes.
The average number of fatalities on this section of Interstate 78 is 4.8 per year, according to a NJ Advance Media analysis of state Department of Transportation traffic data from 1997 to 2014.
It was previously reported the seven fatal accidents this year is more than the number of fatal accidents in 2015 on the same stretch of road, when five people were killed.
The 52 accidents on this stretch of I-78
From 1997 through Sunday, a total of 101 people have been killed. The year with the most fatalities was 1997, when 11 people died. In 2014, there was only one fatality.
In the years from 1997 to 2014, there were a total of 13,336 accidents. Of those, 3,029 were accidents with injuries.
There were two serious crashes on Interstate 78 on Sunday: A morning accident on westbound Interstate 78 in Union Township that left several injured and closed the expressway and an afternoon accident on westbound Interstate 78 in Readington Township that killed one person and left two with serious injuries.
The accident Sunday was the second fatality this month, and the fourth since July 14.
One man was killed, and two people, a woman and a juvenile, were injured in the Aug. 20 accident on eastbound Interstate 78 in Clinton Township.
In July, a tractor-trailer driver died in a one-vehicle crash in Tewksbury Township in Hunterdon County and a person was killed in a crash involving a Ford Fusion, a pickup truck and a New Jersey Department of Transportation crash truck.
A number of NJ.com readers said more needs to be done to deal with the traffic on Interstate 78.
onlooker: "Very sad that lives get lost. Our roads in NJ are so crowded. The sad thing is that if we invested in rail infrastructure, we could greatly, greatly reduce truck traffic. especially in 78 where trucks pick up cargo in Newark and Elizabeth and ship to PA for storage. then they get shipped back to newark and elizabeth ports. these are the issues our politicians should talk about."
Smileysmiley: "Yes. Rail for people leaving Lehigh valley for nj and ny would be a good idea too"
msokad: "This is the 2nd fatal accident in 8 days. The one that happened last week near Clinton was caused by a DWI. Cars and trucks are both to blame. I see people ridding on the bumper of the car in front of them. This is a public highway, not a NASCAR track."
Gordon M: "@Ozonekiller Yes, more police are needed to patrol this highway. Cars and trucks are going too fast. Secondly, every driver should be retested for their driver's license every five years. This would include both a written and an actual driving test."
This year's other fatal accidents include:
- Jan. 6 at 11:40 a.m. - Clinton Township - Fatal accident involving a van (westbound)
- April 18 at 6 p.m. - Union Township - fatal accident (eastbound)
- May 25 at 12:30 p.m. - Alpha - fatal accident involving a vehicle and tractor-trailer (westbound)
- July 14 at 7:25 a.m. - Tewksbury - a fatal tractor-trailer accident and fire near exit 24 (Route 523/Oldwick Road) (eastbound)
- July 22 at 10:45 a.m. - Greenwich Township - One person was killed when a Ford Fusion merging into the left lane of Interstate 78 struck a pickup truck, which then rolled and hit a New Jersey Department of Transportation crash truck. (eastbound).
- Aug. 20 at noon - One person died and two others were injured in an accident. (eastbound)
- Aug. 28 at 1:30 p.m. - One person was killed and two injured. (westbound)
Craig Turpin may be reached at cturpin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @NJeditor. Find NJ.com on Facebook.