Monday Morning crash on Schooleys Mountain Road
Just heard Schooley's Mountain Road is closed due to a crash at 10 this morning there.
joyful 
OnTheEdge 
Greg 
thomasnj The state is going to reconfigure that sweeping turn on SMR immediately above (north of) Camp Washington Road. Not sure when that will take place but I have seen surveyors this summer in the woods. Example: If you are going south the roadway will.move more to the right through where woods are now cutting some of the turn off.
maja2 If they improve that curve, expect more accidents at the big curve just before the municipal building.
Agust They need to widen the road and enforce the speed limit. I hope nobody was seriously hurt.
Guilty-Remnant The curve is not an issue at 20-25mph. Speed needs to be enforced. Redesigning the curve will encourage higher speed. Not the answer. It is quite annoying the amount of tailgating when I bring it down to the required speed like I'm annoying the driver behind me.
Cassie 
Acl76 
BatmanSince forever. There is signage at either end of SMR that bans trucks above a certain weight limit but no one pays attention to it. I wish they had implemented the Long Valley Safety Project. They own all the land necessary to do it but for some reason the project derailed. It would be a bypass, straightening out the curve above camp washington a bit, and doing away with the hard corner below that one, taking you straight down into the woods to a new river crossing. The old 517 would be blocked off at the red house on the hard turn, making everything from there on down to the traffic light strictly residential.
Eperot Trucks over 15 tons' gross registered vehicle weight are hereby excluded from the following described streets or parts of streets, except for the pickup and delivery of materials on such streets and emergency vehicles:
Name of Street
Location
Schooley's Mountain Road (County Road 517)
[Amended 11-16-2015 by Ord. No. 13-15]
From the Warren County and Morris County border to East/West Mill Road
^that is current ordinance. Before 2015 trucks over 20 tons were restricted
That’s what I thought. Certain trucks are restricted. Thanks (OnTheEdge) for the clarification. Some people here are stretching the truth to make their point.
So in reality: any empty tractor trailer can use the road (as long as they are empty and in compliance with weight)
Any truck regardless of weight or size is permitted to use the road as long as it’s local delivery.
That’s a lot different than “no trucks allowed.”
The fact is that a trucks weight is determined by the weight on the registration. It makes no difference whether it is empty or loaded. "Trucks over 15 tons' gross registered vehicle weight" means that any truck registered for more than 30,000 pounds is illegal on that road and again empty or loaded makes no difference. The 3 triaxles that crashed in the last 6 months were all registered for 80,000 pounds or 40 tons and yes they were all loaded. And even empty they weigh somewhere around 15 tons depending on the trucks specs. So they were all 25 tons overweight. For some reason the law doesn't seem to be enforced. And yes it is the fastest and most direct route but it's still dangerous and illegal. Luckily nobody has been killed yet. Truck/car accidents rarely end well for the driver of the car.
Raisin Raisin is correct re GVW, Batman is not.. Simplest solution would be for Washington Twsp cops to simply enforce the law. If they were as rabid about enforcement on SMR as they are on 46, word would get around among the truckers to keep the hell away from SMR, used to see cops sit by the SM fire station but not recently. Guess there's not as much money for the town on SMR as there is on 46.
Sorry OldSam but registered gross weight is arbitrary. You can register your gvw to whatever you want at the dmv. Many trucking companies that run light weight will register at lower gvw because it’s cheaper.
Raisin, do you know specifically where the last 3 dump trucks you referred to were going? If they were going to a destination on the mountain they are 100% legal. If they were just cutting over to Hackettstown then yes I agree they are illegal.
I honestly don't know where the last 3 were going but all 3 were heading down the mountain loaded when they crashed so it doesn't seem like they were making a local delivery on the mountain. If they were heading up the hill loaded or down empty then it would seem more likely they were making a delivery. 2 were carrying stone and 1 blacktop. There are no quarries or asphalt plants on or anywhere near that mountain so again it doesn't seem like they can claim to be making a local delivery or that they just got loaded up there. As for the most recent someone made a comment on the WT police page that the driver claims he got lost heading to Belvidere but that isn't an "official" statement. I drove trucks for 30 years and I know that that is the fastest and most direct route to get over the mountain and that's why so many trucks use it but it is still dangerous and illegal. And I know that an overweight ticket on a light traffic street or bridge is a moving violation that carries a hefty fine and points. I've traveled that road for 25 years and have seen some of the crashes and also some scary near misses. I'm not saying that there should be no trucks on that hill but the road is clearly marked and every driver with a CDL should know the law since it is one of the questions on the test to get one. Again I just hope it doesn't take a fatality before something is done.
Sorry Batman; GVWR is anything but arbitrary, NJ MVC has very specific rules to follow as per N.J.S.A 39:3-84 (New Jersey Statutes Annotated) that comply with NJDOT rules that in turn have to comply with the Federal Bridge Formula. Think about it, some bubba with a 29 ft, 4 axle dump truck federal rated at 61,500lbs says to MVC, oh I carry only feathers so I want to register my truck at 1000 lbs - not going to happen. To begin with, Bubba has to have a NJDOT number in order to apply for a NJ commercial registration and a Federal DOT number if he's going to cross state lines and he's not going to BS a DOT application re GVW rate.
From Washington Township police:
**Updated Crash Investigation**
The investigation into the motor vehicle crash that occurred on November 20, 2018 has concluded. The crash was investigated by Sgt. Burns resulting in the following motor vehicle complaints being issued; Over 15 ton registered, no local delivery (203-43.1, Careless Driving, Delaying traffic, Obstructing passage of vehicles, Improper action on Steep Grades and Curves, Disregard of Traffic Control Device, Fail to Keep Right, Fail to Maintain Lane. The vehicle was later released to the company.
justintime Schooleys Mountain is closed again due to ANOTHER overturned vehicle between Springtown Rd and Fairfield. This is 3 in 3 weeks and yet the trucks continue to barrel through.
Mark 
JeffersonRepub 1st of all, trucks are no longer allowed on that hill , but they blow by the signs anyway. I know because a guy from my own company did it . He won't do it again because he did get stuck and they had to back him down and run him wide through the curve while having stopped traffic.
2nd, the speed limit IS 25, but pretty much no one obeys it, and if you do you ride with someone up your wazoo all the way up the hill or down the hill. I don't think changing either of the curves will make a difference as long as there are belligerent, ignorant people out there.
3rd, Have a nice day. : )
Lenny Commenting is no longer available.