Steering wheel multi-taskers and highway craters are the biggest dangers on New Jersey's roads, according to a Stockton University poll of drivers in the Garden State.

And while most admit to driving over the speed limit from time to time, a majority also claim New Jersey motorists generally drive too fast.

In the poll of 632 adults, 49% said distracted drivers pose the greatest hazard on the road.

According to a Life360 study released in 2018, New Jersey ranks No. 1 in the country (worst) for distracted driving. New Jersey drivers, according to the study, use their phones once every 4.7 miles driven.

Using cell phone usage crash data from the New Jersey Department of Transportation, along with population statistics, QuoteWizard by LendingTree recently released county rankings to show where drivers are most distracted in the Garden State.

At 11.46 crashes per 10,000 people, Hudson County registered as the worst state, followed by Essex, Passaic and Cape May. The rate of crashes involving cell phone use was lowest in Hunterdon County.

Behind distracted drivers, potholes were cited as the next biggest danger by 31% of respondents in the Stockton poll. At 10%, traffic was the third-most frequent response.

The findings were released as part of a larger survey that measured New Jerseyans' views of the state's roads, bridges and tunnels, and how they can be improved.

In the survey, 84% of respondents said they drive more than 10 mph over the speed limit at least occasionally, with nearly 40% reporting they speed either very or somewhat often. At the same time, 55% said New Jersey drivers generally drive too fast.

When asked whether they'd like to see greater enforcement of anti-speeding laws, a small majority said no.

"The respondents recognize there's a problem with speeding, they are part of the problem, and they don't want to get caught," said Michael Klein, interim executive director of the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton.

As perhaps the most reputation-shattering finding of the survey, nearly 60% of New Jersey drivers said they've never made an angry or impolite gesture at another driver. Eleven percent said they make those gestures quite often.

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