There has been a spike in the number of highway construction work zone accidents on New Jersey highways, and it's causing great concern to New Jersey car accident lawyers and the Department of Transportation.

According to this report, there were 5,247 construction work zone accidents in New Jersey last year. That was an increase of 8% over the figures in 2008. Bergen County seems to have been hit particularly hard by this spike. It had a total of 631 work zone crashes, and these accounted for three of the 11 fatal accidents across the state. In 2008, Bergen County had 430 such work zone accidents.

Passaic County however, saw a drop however in such accident rates. There were 217 highway work zones accident here in 2009, compared to 959 in 2006. The biggest possible explanation for the drop could simply be that there isn't a lot of construction work going on Passaic County. It's obvious that a higher number of construction projects, results in more numbers of accidents, injuries and fatalities.

The spike in accidents across New Jersey has spurred the launch of two separate studies into the possible causes of these accidents, at what location do these occur and what kind of safety measures could be taken to prevent these. The Rutgers Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation and the New Jersey Institute of Technology are conducting the two studies.

There's a lot that motorists could do to prevent accidents on construction highway work zones. Avoid speeding and tailgating. Don't change lanes randomly in the middle of the work zone, and don’t slow down speeds to look at what’s going on. Be alert to warning signs and flaggers. New Jersey transportation officials must also look at the efficacy of warning systems and signs, and how these can be enhanced to minimize these accident rates.