Motorists seeing slightly lower gas prices in New Jersey

TRENTON » Drivers are seeing slightly lower prices at the pumps in New Jersey.

AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average price of a gallon of regular gas in the state on Friday was $2.55, which is down 1 cent from last week. Motorists were paying $2.24 for gas in New Jersey at this time last year.

This marks the third straight week that gas prices have fallen in New Jersey.

The national average gas price Friday was $2.49, down 3 cents from last week. But that’s still much higher than the national average from a year ago, when motorists were paying $2.16.

Analysts say pump prices should continue to fall in the weeks ahead as demand declines.

Driver gets 21 years for fiery crash that killed family of 3

MORRISTOWN » A New Jersey driver who pleaded guilty to killing a young family from Kentucky in a fiery drunken-driving crash has been sentenced to 21 years in prison.

NJ.com reports 24-yearold Bhavuk Uppal was sentenced Friday in the death of 24-year-old Edward Hitt, 21-year-old Briana Anderson and their 18-month-old daughter in the July 2015 crash.

The family from Jeffersontown, Kentucky, had been returning from a visit to New York, driving through the night so their daughter could sleep, when police say Uppal’s Cadillac Escalade plowed into their Kia at about 100 miles per hour.

The family’s car burst into flames. All three were pronounced dead at the scene.

Anderson was later found to have been five months pregnant.

Uppal’s attorney says his client was self-medicating his depression with drugs and alcohol following his parents’ divorce.