Church van, transit bus collide on Garden State Parkway

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The stretch of the Garden State Parkway running through Saddle Brook was the scene of a horrific accident earlier this week involving a transit bus and a passenger van.

According to reports, the empty New Jersey transit bus, which has just finished its route to Ridgewood, was headed southbound on the Garden State Parkway to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan this past Tuesday evening. At the same time, a Ford Econoline passenger van carrying 23 people was heading in the same direction to a Bible study in nearby Newark.

Law enforcement officials are still trying to determine what exactly transpired, but believe that the two vehicles took Exit 159, a two-lane exit, to Route 80. At some point, they think that the passenger van, which was located in the right lane, somehow managed to veer over into the left lane, striking the transit bus traveling alongside it.

The sheer impact of the collision caused the passenger van to rotate, flip over onto its roof and slide down the highway at a high rate of speed. Tragically, one person riding in the van was killed in the accident, while four others suffered critical injuries.

While the state police are still investigating the motor vehicle accident, which shut down all lanes of the Garden State Parkway until just after midnight, they have already noted that the passenger van was loaded beyond its capacity. However, they have not yet determined whether this actually played a role in the crash and are actively working to establish why the van swerved into the other lane in the first place.

Stay tuned for updates on this developing story …

Those who’ve been injured or lost a loved one in a car accident, bus accident or mass transit accident need to understand that they have options for securing justice, and that an experienced legal professional can explain these options and protect their best interests.

Source: North Jersey.com, “Church bus was overloaded in fatal crash on Garden State Parkway ramp, police say,” Jim Norman and Matthew McGrath, October 3, 2013; CBS New York, “NJ TRANSIT Bus Crash Leaves 1 Dead, 4 Injured On Garden State Parkway,” October 2, 2013