Submitted by New Jersey DWI Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark
Spending a chunk of the summer at the Jersey Shore is something thousands look forward to each year, but it could mean more than just sun and fun. There could be trouble, though, if you are not responsible and drink too much — or dabble in other substances — and get behind the wheel.
We’ve ranked the shore towns from where the least number of DWI tickets are issued per square mile to where the most are given out by law enforcement.
The information is from the latest available, from fiscal year July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016. It should be noted that the figures provided were for arrests for “driving while intoxicated.” Today, that often means not just drunken driving, but driving while impaired by other illegal substances, something officers on the road are seeing more and more.
Upper Township in northern Cape May County includes the Shore town of Strathmere. During 2015-2016, there were 80 DWI arrests in the 68.68 square mile area. That’s 1.16 DWI tickets per square mile. The number of tickets is up only slightly from the 78 issued in 2014-2015, authorities say.
Only one DWI ticket was issued in Barnegat Light in 2015-2016, authorities say. That equals 1.17 arrests in its 0.85-square-mile area. That number of DWI tickets is down from 2014-2015 when three arrests took place there for DWI.
The 55.99-square-mile area of Berkeley Township had 99 DWI arrests in 2015-2016. That’s 1.76 DWI tickets per square mile. The 99-arrest number is down from 2014-2015 when 107 DWI tickets were handed out in the Ocean County municipality.
The Cape May County seaside town of Avalon had 10 DWI tickets issued in 2015-2016, a number that’s down from the 16 tickets handed out in 2014-2015, according to authorities. At 4.92 square miles, the number of tickets issued works out to 2.02 per square mile.
Officials say 52 DWI arrests were made in 2015-2016 in Long Beach. With 22.03 square miles of area, that averages out to 2.35 arrests per square mile. During 2014-2015, 64 DWI tickets were issued there.
Harvey Cedars on Long Beach Island in Ocean County had three DWI tickets issued in 2015-2016, officials say. Being a small town at just 1.18 square miles, that averages out to 2.53 DWI arrests per square mile. In the year prior, four tickets for DWI were issued in Harvey Cedars.
In this 10.36-square-mile town just north of Atlantic City, Brigantine law enforcement wrote 27 DWI tickets in the one-year period during 2015-2016. That averages out to 2.60 arrests per square mile. In 2014-2015, there were 23 DWI arrests.
In Toms River (including Ortley Beach and Chadwick Beach) 389 DWI arrests took place in the one-year period of 2015-2016, authorities say. With an area of 136.96 square miles, that averages out to 2.84 DWI tickets per square mile. In 2014-2015, 321 DWI arrests were made.
Cape May Point, a quiet resort at the southern tip of New Jersey, reported just one DWI ticket issued in 2015-2016. With Cape May Point having an area of just 0.3 square miles, that averages out to 3.17 DWI tickets per square mile. In 2014-2015 no DWI arrests were made in Cape May Point.
During the one-year period in 2015-2016, nine DWI tickets were issued in Beach Haven, an average of 3.87 per square mile in the 2.32-square-mile town. In 2014-2015, authorities said six DWI tickets were written there.
Officials say there were 48 DWI arrests in 2015-2016 in the resort town of Ocean City. That averages out to 4.44 DWI tickets per square mile in the municipality which has an area of 10.79 square miles. In 2014-2015, there were 49 DWI arrests in Ocean City, officials say.
Eleven DWI tickets were issued in 2015-2016 in the 2.06-square-mile municipality of Monmouth Beach in 2015-2016, according to authorities. That averages out to 5.31 tickets given per square mile. The year prior, 12 DWI tickets were issued.
Ten DWI tickets were issued in Spring Lake in 2015-2016, authorities say, down from the 16 issued the year before. With an area of just 1.72 square miles, last years’ number of tickets issued works out to 5.78 per square mile.
Sixteen DWI arrests were made in 2015-2016 in Cape May City, authorities say. For a town of 2.74 square miles, that averages out to 5.83 tickets per square mile. In the year prior, law enforcement issued 26 DWI tickets, according to officials.
With an area of only 0.95 square miles, Lavalette is a small Shore town. During 2015-2016, six DWI tickets were issued there, authorities said. That’s double the three DWI tickets issued in 2014-2015. Combine the number of tickets issued and the town’s size, you get an average of 6.28 DWI tickets issued per square mile.
In Longport, 10 DWI tickets were issued in 2015-2016, less than half of the 21 issued in the one-year 2014-2015 period, according to officials. With an area of 1.56 square miles, the 10 tickets issued in 2015-2016 average out to 6.41 tickets per square mile.
Six DWI tickets were issued by law enforcement to drivers in Surf City in 2015-2016. That’s double the three arrests reported in 2014-2015. With an area of just 0.91 square miles, the six tickets issued in 2015-2016 average out to 6.54 arrests per square mile.
During the 2015-2016 period, 217 DWI tickets were written in Brick Township, authorities say. That’s down from the 258 arrests out during 2014-2015. Brick has an an area of 32.31 square miles. Those 217 tickets given in 2015-2016 average out to 6.71 tickets per square mile.
Manasquan, with an area of 2.53 square miles, had 19 DWI tickets issued by law enforcement there in 2015-2016, authorities say. That’s an average of 7.50 tickets per square mile. The 2015-2016 number is down from 2014-2015’s when 23 DWI tickets were handed out.
This popular Jersey Shore town of Stone Harbor had 16 DWI arrests in 2015-2016, down from the 18 reported there the year prior, officials said. With an area of 1.96 square miles, the summonses handed out in 2015-2016 average out to 8.15 tickets per square mile.
Long Branch, with an area of 6.28 square miles, had 58 DWI tickets issued in 2015-2016, authorities said. That up eight from the 50 arrests reported for 2014-2015. The most recent number of tickets issued average out to 9.23 DWI tickets per square mile.
Avon-by-the-sea, with an area of just 0.54 square miles, had five DWI tickets issued in 2015-2016, according to authorities. That averages out to 9.24 DWI tickets per square mile. In the 2014-2015 time period, four DWI tickets were issued in the town.
During the 2015-2016 period, 161 DWI arrests were made in Atlantic City, according to officials. With an area of 17.03 square miles, that averages out to 9.45 summonses for DWI per square mile. In 2014-2015, 149 DWI tickets were issued.
Margate had 19 DWI tickets issued in 2015-2016, according to authorities. With an area of 1.16 square miles, that averages out to 11.6 summonses for DWI per square mile. During the 2014-2015 period, 30 tickets for DWI were issued in Margate.
Point Pleasant Beach had 53 DWI arrests in 2015-2016, up slightly from the 51 in 2014-2015, authorities said. The 2015-2016 number of arrests averages out to 12.71 per square mile in the 4.16-square-mile town.
There were 45 DWI tickets issued in the Atlantic County municipality of Ventnor during 2015-2016, authorities said. That averages out to 12.77 tickets per square mile in the 3.52-square-mile town. During the 2014-2015 period, 34 DWI tickets were written in Ventnor.
Ten DWI tickets were written to drivers in Bay Head during 2015-2016, authorities say. That’s up from the eight issued in 2014-2015. An average of 14.28 DWI tickets were issued per square mile in Bay Head, according to the most recent statistics, in the town that’s got an area of only 0.7 square miles.
There were 124 DWI tickets written in 2015-2016 in Neptune Township which includes Ocean Grove, authorities say. That’s down from the 173 DWI summonses issued in 2014-2015. With an area of 8.67 square miles, that equals out to 14.29 DWI tickets per square mile.
With an area of 2.53 square miles, Sea Isle City had 40 DWI arrests in 2015-2016, authorities said. That averages out to 15.80 DWI tickets per square mile. In 2014-2015, the town had 34 DWI tickets issued.
The Shore town of Sea Girt had 27 DWI tickets issued in 2015-2016, up six from the 21 issued the previous year, officials said. With an area of 1.45 square miles, that averages out to 18.62 DWI summonses per square mile.
Sea Bright saw 25 DWI arrests in 2015-2016, authorities say. In a town with an area of 1.87 square miles, that averages out to 19.42 tickets per square mile. In 2014-2015 Sea Bright had 42 DWI tickets issued.
During 2015-2016 there were 27 DWI arrests in Wildwood Crest, down from the 36 in the year before, authorities say. For a town wth an area of 1.30 square miles, the 2015-2016 numbers average out to 20.62 DWI tickets issued per square mile.
In Belmar during the 2015-2016 period there were 34 DWI arrests, up from the 31 in 2014-2015, authorities said. Belmar has an area of 1.64 square miles so the latest arrest tally averages out to 20.64 DWI arrests per square mile.
Seaside Park, with an area of 0.76 square miles, had 16 DWI arrests in 2015-2016, down from the 27 seen in 2014-2015, authorities said. The latest DWI tickets average out to 20.83 DWI tickets per square mile.
The Shore town of Asbury Park had 35 DWI arrests in 2015-2016, down from the 40 seen in 2014-2015 in the 1.60-square-mile town, authorities said. That’s an average of 21.83 DWI tickets issued per square mile in Asbury Park.
Deal had 38 DWI arrests in 2015-2016, according to authorities, down from 42 in 2014-2015. For a town of 1.31 square miles, that averages out to 28.83 DWI tickets per square mile.
In Mantoloking the number of DWI arrests in 2015-2016 grew to 20, more than double from the nine seen in 2014-2015, authorities said. For a town of 0.643 square miles, the latest figures average out to 31.10 DWI arrests per square mile.
Ship Bottom had 35 DWI arrests in 2015-2016, up from the 31 the year before in the 1.00-square-mile town. That averages out to 34.96 DWI tickets issued per square mile.
There were 76 DWI tickets issued in North Wildwood in 2015-2016, authorities said. With an area of 2.13 square miles, that averages out to 35.59 arrests per square mile. The most recent arrests are up from the 68 arrests for DWI in 2014-2015.
In Bradley Beach there were 25 DWI tickets issued in 2015-2016, down from the 30 in 2014-2015, authorities say. With an area of 0.63 square miles, that averages out to 39.49 DWI arrests per square mile.
The 0.28-square-mile town of Allenhurst had 15 DWI arrests in 2015-2016, down from the 24 seen in 2014-2015, authorities said. That averages out to 53 DWI arrests per square mile.
In Loch Arbour there were 15 DWI arrests in 2015-2016, up from the 10 seen the year before, authorities said. With an area of only 0.14 square miles, that averages out to 106.38 DWI tickets issued per square mile.
Wildwood, with an area of 1.39 square miles, reported 163 DWI tickets issued in 2015-2016, a number that’s up sharply from the 99 DWI arrests seen in 2014-2015. It all averages out to 116.92 DWI tickets per square mile being issued in Wildwood.
Seaside Heights is tops when it comes to DWI arrests per square mile, statistics show. With an area of 0.76 square miles, Seaside Heights saw 143 DWI arrests in 2015-2016, authorities say. That averages out to 191.68 DWI tickets issued per square mile, the highest among the Jersey Shore towns. In 2014-2015 there were 116 DWI tickets issued.
Originally published here by nj.com