Grisly 5-Car Accident Kills Three in Hoboken
Realhoboken.com Staff

As first reported in the Star Ledger, a 36-year-old woman traveling twice the speed limit on Willow Avenue slammed into a vehicle sitting at a traffic light at approximately 4:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

To review, a 36-year-old woman driving a Chevrolet Malibu down the 14th Street viaduct about 4:25 p.m. Saturday crashed into the back of a Toyota Corolla waiting in line for a light at Willow Avenue.

Police reports indicate that the woman was driving an estimated 60 mph and allegedly didn't apply her breaks before impacting the Corolla.

The Corolla then slammed into the back of a Honda Odyssey, which was then thrown into a Ford Explorer. The Malibu then bounced into a white van that was going up the viaduct, according to Hoboken Public Safety Director Bill Bergin.

The series of smashups resulted in the 36-year-old woman dying at the scene (Realhoboken.com will not release the name of the victim despite receiving several emails regarding her identity until the authorities do so out of respect to the family). The husband and wife that she rear-ended at the initial point of impact succumbed to massive injuries over the course of 24 hours at Jersey City Medical Center bringing the death toll to three.

The accident at the intersection at 14th and Willow was cleared by Saturday night>

Nine other people involved in the accident were taken by ambulance to Jersey City Medical Center about three miles away, according to the Ledger, including an infant that suffered a broken leg.

There were 766 driving fatalities in New Jersey in 2006 and 748 in 2005 (figures for 2007 were not available yet). Neighboring New York, a much larger state, had 1,429 driving deaths in 2006, while California led the nation with 4,400 deaths that year. Rhode Island and Alaska saw the lowest number of fatalities with 81 and 70 in '06, respectively.

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