Police say the driver apparently rear-ended the bus, and was pronounced dead at the scene. Nine other people were evaluated for injuries.
By Matt Skoufalos | September 24, 2022
A Cherry Hill man died in a rear-end collision with an NJ TRANSIT bus, and several other passengers were evaluated for injuries in a Friday evening highway crash.
The incident occurred just before 6 p.m. on Route 70 westbound at the intersection of King’s Highway in Cherry Hill.
Cherry Hill Police Chief Robert Kempf said the driver of a 2012 Toyota Scion collided with the rear of the bus, which had been stopped at a light.
The driver of the vehicle, an as-yet-unidentified, 63-year-old Cherry Hill man, was killed upon impact. Kempf said that, according to preliminary investigation, there’s no indication that the driver “made any attempt to slow or stop.”
The bus was described by NJ TRANSIT officials as operating on the 406 route, having departed from Walker Avenue in Berlin at 4:37 p.m., and slated to arrive at 6th and Race Streets in Philadelphia at 6:09 p.m.
Fourteen passengers were aboard the bus at the time of the impact.
Cherry Hill Fire Chief Chris Callan said nine people were evaluated for injuries. Kempf said that four, including the driver of the bus, were taken to the hospital.
Attorney Abe Tran of Haddon Township, who was stopped in traffic directly in front of the bus at the time of the collision, said he wasn’t sure what had happened at first.
“It sounded like an explosion,” Tran said. “I was actually confused what it was, and thought maybe the bus had a catastrophic failure, or there was an explosion from the Hertz building on my right.
“But then I could see the bus driver and someone else on the bus surprised and trying to figure it out, and I realized they were rear-ended,” he said.
Tran said that the bus, which had stopped a comfortable distance behind his car, “didn’t budge from the impact.”
Authorities spent some three hours clearing the roadway and investigating the crash Friday evening.
Kempf encouraged motorists to “maintain your vigilance and your situational awareness out there.
“Coming up into the holiday season, traffic will increase around our retail centers,” the chief said.
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