SERIES OF MULTIVEHICLE COLLISIONS AND FIRES UNDER LIMITED VISIBILITY CONDITIONS, NEW JERSEY TURNPIKE, GATE 15 AND U.S. ROUTE 46, OCTOBER 23-24, 1973

The report describes the situation that existed before, and during, the series of multivehicle collisions which occurred under fog and smoke conditions on a high-speed limited-access highway--the New Jersey Turnpike--during the late hours of October 23 and early morning of October 24, 1973. In that period, nine multivehicle collisions occurred, eight under limited-visibility conditions which were caused by smoke from burning material on an abandoned garbage dump in the Hackensack Meadowlands and fog. Sixty-six motor vehicles were involved, nine persons were killed, and 39 others were injured. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this series of multivehicle collisions was the penetration of vehicles into areas of severely reduced visibility due to fog and smoke, the latter occasioned by fires adjacent to the turnpike which had not been promptly extinguished. The delay in closing the affected roadways by the New Jersey State Police contributed to the number of accidents.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Highway Accident Report
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Office of Surface Transportation Safety
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1975-3-5

Media Info

• Pagination: 47 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Casualties; Crash investigation; Crashes; Expressways; Fatalities; Fires; Fog; Freeways; Smoke; Traffic crashes; Visibility; Waste disposal
• Uncontrolled Terms: Motor vehicle accidents
• Geographic Terms: New Jersey
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00091465
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-HAR-75-2, HS-018 367
• Files: HSL, NTIS, TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 24 1975 12:00AM