Medford, NJ — March 5, 2025, two people were injured in a bus accident at about 6:20 a.m. on Hartford Road near Church Road.

Authorities said a northbound bus and a southbound medical transport van collided. The impact caused the van to overturn, ejecting the driver.

The van driver, a 30-year-old man whose name has not been made public, was flown to an area hospital with undisclosed injuries, according to authorities. The van did not have any passengers.

The 34-year-old woman who was driving the bus suffered minor injuries, authorities said. The bus, operated by Hillman's Bus Service, was not transporting any passengers at the time of the crash.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the crash. The accident is still being investigated.

Commentary

When a crash between a bus and a medical transport van results in a rollover and an ejection, the key question isn’t just who had the right of way, but why this collision happened in the first place.

One of the first things investigators need to determine is how the two vehicles came into each other’s paths. Did one driver misjudge the road conditions? Did visibility or early morning lighting play a role? Road design could also be a factor. Some intersections and curves create blind spots that make it harder for drivers to see oncoming traffic in time to react.

Another issue worth examining is vehicle speed. Larger commercial vehicles like buses and transport vans take longer to stop and can be harder to control in emergency situations. If one or both drivers were traveling too fast for conditions, that could have made a collision more severe. Investigators should check data from any onboard tracking systems that might show how fast each vehicle was going before the crash.

The fact that the van driver was ejected also raises questions about safety measures. Properly worn seat belts usually prevent ejections, so authorities should determine whether the driver was restrained, and if not, why. Some transport vans have different seating configurations or restraints that might not provide the same level of protection as standard passenger vehicles.

Crashes like this aren’t just about what happened at the moment of impact: they’re about what led up to that moment. A proper investigation should look beyond basic crash reports and consider road design, vehicle conditions, and safety protocols to ensure all possible contributing factors are examined.