Riding in the bed of a pickup truck is illegal in New Jersey with very limited exceptions, according to state law. New Jersey Revised Statute 39:4-69 explicitly prohibits passengers from riding in any part of a vehicle not designed or intended for passenger use, which includes the cargo area of pickup trucks. This makes New Jersey one of the strictest states in the nation regarding this practice, standing alongside New York and Arkansas in maintaining comprehensive bans on pickup bed riding.
Understanding New Jersey Law
The legal foundation for this prohibition comes from NJ Revised Statute 39:4-69, which states that no person shall ride on, and no operator shall knowingly allow a person to ride on a street car or vehicle, or on a portion thereof not designed or intended for the conveyance of passengers. The cargo bed of a pickup truck clearly falls under this category, as it lacks basic safety features like seats, seatbelts, and protective structures that passenger compartments provide.
The only exception carved out in the law applies to employees engaged in the necessary discharge of their duties. This means workers who need to be in the truck bed for legitimate work purposes during their employment may legally do so, but recreational or casual riding remains prohibited for everyone else.
Penalties for Violations
Violating this statute carries financial consequences, though the penalties are relatively modest compared to other traffic offenses. Offenders face a fine of fifty dollars or imprisonment for up to fifteen days, though imprisonment is rarely imposed for this particular violation. Despite the existence of these penalties, enforcement can be inconsistent, as demonstrated by a recent incident in Dennis Township where a nine-year-old girl was injured while riding in a truck bed but no charges were filed against the driver.
The penalty structure reflects the state’s view that while the practice is dangerous and illegal, it typically represents a lower-level traffic violation rather than a serious criminal offense. However, if an accident occurs resulting in injuries or death while passengers are illegally riding in the truck bed, additional charges could be filed, and civil liability could attach to the driver.
Why the Law Exists
New Jersey implemented this restriction based on substantial safety data showing the dangers of cargo area travel. National research reveals alarming statistics about the risks involved in riding unprotected in pickup truck beds. Studies examining fatality data from 1987 to 1996 found that an annual average of 188 deaths occurred to pickup truck cargo area occupants, representing approximately three percent of all pickup truck fatalities during that period. Between 1975 and 1979, an average of 242 persons were killed each year while riding in cargo areas of pickup trucks.
The fatality risk for cargo area occupants is dramatically higher than for passengers in protected seating positions. Research comparing cargo area passengers to front seat occupants found that cargo area riders face a fatality risk ratio that is thirty times higher when compared to restrained front seat passengers. Even when compared to unrestrained front seat passengers, cargo area occupants still face nearly eight times the risk of death.
Crashes with passengers in cargo areas resulted in death for five percent of those passengers according to California Highway Patrol data from 1990, which examined 702 traffic reports involving 1,685 passengers riding in truck beds. Passengers in cargo areas were more frequently ejected from the vehicle and sustained more serious injuries than their counterparts riding safely in the cab.
Demographics of At-Risk Passengers
The data reveals concerning patterns about who typically rides in pickup truck beds. Among cargo area passengers involved in crashes, 65 percent were male, 36 percent were younger than fifteen years old, and 30 percent were between ages fifteen and nineteen. The drivers involved in these incidents were overwhelmingly male at 81 percent, and 22 percent were younger than twenty years old.
This demographic information suggests that younger individuals, particularly teenagers and children, are disproportionately affected by cargo area injuries and fatalities. The prevalence of young passengers in these dangerous situations provided additional motivation for states like New Jersey to implement comprehensive bans rather than age-based restrictions that some other states have adopted.
Limited Protection from Enclosures
Some pickup truck owners install camper shells or tonneau covers thinking these provide adequate protection for cargo area passengers. However, research shows that enclosed cargo areas offer minimal safety benefits. The fatality risk ratio for occupants in enclosed cargo areas was still elevated at 1.8 times that of front seat passengers, while open cargo areas showed a risk ratio of 3.5 times higher.
These findings indicate that while enclosures provide some marginal improvement over completely open beds, they still fail to offer protection comparable to proper passenger seating with safety restraints. New Jersey law makes no distinction between enclosed and open cargo areas, prohibiting riding in both configurations.
How New Jersey Compares to Other States
New Jersey stands among a minority of states with comprehensive restrictions on cargo area riding. Twenty states have no laws whatsoever addressing this practice, including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The remaining twenty-nine states have varying regulations, most of which impose age-based restrictions rather than complete bans. For example, New Mexico permits anyone eighteen years or older to ride in cargo areas, while Pennsylvania prohibits anyone under eighteen from riding in truck beds and restricts all cargo area riding when vehicles exceed thirty-five miles per hour. Oregon similarly prohibits anyone under eighteen from riding in pickup beds, and Ohio restricts cargo area riding for those under sixteen when traveling faster than twenty-five miles per hour.
The Bottom Line
New Jersey law unambiguously prohibits riding in the cargo area of pickup trucks with only a narrow exception for employees performing work duties. This comprehensive ban reflects the substantial body of evidence showing that cargo area passengers face dramatically elevated risks of death and serious injury compared to properly restrained passengers in designated seating areas.
While twenty states permit this practice without restriction and many others allow it under certain conditions, New Jersey has determined that the safety risks justify a near-total prohibition. Pickup truck owners and passengers should understand that choosing to ride in the truck bed in New Jersey not only violates state law but also places lives at serious risk based on decades of crash data and injury research.
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