Fatal Bus Accidents in New Jersey
Since the beginning of the year, New Jersey has seen 313 fatal collisions and the deaths of 332 people on the road. The number is quite high in comparison to crash data for other states.
As far as bus transportation safety is concerned, this state doesn’t rank among the best performers in the US. While a reduction was observed in the period from 2013 to 2015, the number of fatalities has gone up significantly in 2016.
Fatal Bus Accident Statistics
The New Jersey State Police’s Fatal Accident Investigation Unit is responsible for preparing thorough annual reports about deaths on the road. These reports feature segmentation by vehicle, making it easy to assess the safety of bus transportation.
Here are some of the unit’s numbers pertaining to fatal crashes involving various kinds of vehicles:2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bus | 7 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 3 |
Car | 493 | 433 | 433 | 397 | 413 |
SUV | 154 | 149 | 112 | 144 | 139 |
Motorcycle | 97 | 81 | 57 | 62 | 51 |
Pickup | 58 | 69 | 59 | 57 | 58 |
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration prepares its separate annual reports, as well. There are some differences in the numbers presented by local authorities and the federal entity:
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
---|---|---|---|
Buses involved | 1,086 | 979 | 151 |
Number of Crashes | 1,071 | 966 | 148 |
Fatalities | 13 | 22 | 2 |
Injuries | 1,026 | 980 | 138 |
According to the FMCSA report, there were 11 deadly bus crashes in 2013, and these contributed to 11 fatalities. In 2014, there were nine collisions that killed 11 individuals.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics data goes back even further. The bureau reports that in 2010, New Jersey had 12 bus collisions with a fatal outcome, representing 1.4 percent of all the deadly crashes. In 2012, the number was six, and it represented 0.7 percent of all accidents.
Newest Fatalities
One of the newest bus-related accidents occurred in March 2017. A pedestrian was hit by a Mountainside transit bus while attempting to cross the road. Luckily, the bus did not have any passengers aboard because its route was just getting started.
The victim sustained serious head injuries and was immediately taken to the hospital using helicopter transportation.
Another pedestrian was killed after a charter bus ran into her in March 2017. The accident occurred in Vineland, and the bus was heading towards an inspection yard because some technical problems had been identified. Apparently, they not notice the pedestrian and hit her.
A very serious collision occurred in Newark in the summer of 2016. Two transit buses collided with each other, killing two people on and contributing to the injury of 18 more.
The collision occurred at an intersection on an early Friday morning. One of the bus drivers was killed immediately. Of the 18 individuals injured, seven were taken to the hospital in a critical condition. Later on, one of them died as a result of the trauma and wounds sustained during the crash. According to preliminary reports, one of the bus drivers ran a red light.
Later on, surveillance camera footage was utilized to identify the guilty party. The film shows a bus crashing into another at a very high speed. The driver that was killed at the age of 70 was a long-term employee with more than 27 years of experience behind the wheel.