A 50-year-old woman was struck and killed by a vehicle near the intersection of Madison Avenue and 6th Avenue in Paterson at around 7 p.m. Friday, according to a joint statement from local authorities. She was taken to Saint Joseph's University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. The driver remained at the scene, and the investigation is active and ongoing.
The crash was reported by Daily Voice, which cited a statement attributed to Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Officer-in-Charge Patrick Murray. Anyone with information has been asked to call the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office tip line at 1-877-370-PCPO. The station's report does not indicate whether charges have been filed against the driver, and the woman's identity had not been released as of Saturday.
A Corridor With a Grim Recent History
This is not the first deadly crash on this stretch of road. Just three blocks away, at Madison Avenue and Third Avenue, an unidentified male pedestrian was struck and killed on June 7, 2026, according to Daily Voice. In that case too, the driver stayed at the scene while prosecutors investigated.
Less than three weeks before that, on September 13, 2026, another fatal pedestrian crash struck Paterson near 23rd and Trenton avenues, this time resulting in the arrest of a 25-year-old driver on DUI charges after he refused chemical testing, as Hoodline previously reported. That victim was also transported to Saint Joseph's University Medical Center, where death was pronounced. Together, the three incidents paint a troubling pattern of fatal pedestrian strikes across Paterson in just four months.
State Oversight Still Governs Paterson Police
The investigation into Friday's crash falls under a police department that has operated under direct state supervision since March 2023, when the New Jersey Attorney General's Office took control of local law enforcement following systemic municipal policing failures. That takeover was unanimously upheld by the state Supreme Court in July 2025, according to CBS News. Officer-in-Charge Patrick Murray now oversees day-to-day operations, including the response to crashes like this one, under that continuing state mandate.
Why Paterson's Intersections Are So Dangerous
The numbers behind these repeated tragedies are stark. Paterson registered 14,513 intersection crashes over a five-year study period from 2018 through 2022, ranking second among all New Jersey municipalities behind only Newark, according to a traffic data study published by Grungo Law. Passaic County also led the state in the proportion of total crashes occurring at intersections, at 38 percent.
Those local numbers track with a broader regional surge. Fatal and serious injury traffic crashes in Passaic County jumped 74 percent between 2019 and 2022, the largest percentage increase of any county in the metropolitan region, per a report from the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority. Statewide, pedestrians account for roughly 25 percent of all traffic fatalities in New Jersey, compared to a national average of about 17 percent, according to data cited by Keep Middlesex Moving, which has helped classify New Jersey as a federal pedestrian safety focus state.
What New Jersey Law Requires of Drivers
Under New Jersey Statute 39:4-36, drivers are legally required to stop and remain stopped for pedestrians crossing in marked or unmarked crosswalks at intersections, according to the New Jersey Department of Transportation. A collision under that statute creates a permissive inference that the driver failed to exercise due care, and failure to yield can carry driver's license points and municipal fines. The state's Safe Passing Law, in effect since March 2022, separately requires drivers to allow a minimum four-foot buffer when passing pedestrians or to slow to 25 mph on single-lane roads, with fines of up to $500 if bodily harm results.
In January 2025, Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation creating the Target Zero Commission, a multi-agency state initiative aimed at eliminating all traffic and pedestrian deaths across New Jersey by 2040, according to the law firm Blume, Forte, Fried, Zerres & Molinari. Whether that initiative will bring targeted infrastructure changes to corridors like Madison Avenue remains to be seen, as investigators in Paterson continue working Friday's case alongside two other recent fatal pedestrian crashes in the same city.
