Phoenix, AZ — January 26, 2026, Delfino Mota Jr. was killed in a bus accident at about 4 a.m. in the 5000 block of West Lower Buckeye Road.

Authorities said a pickup and a Metro Valley bus collided head-on at the intersection with 51st Avenue.

The driver of the pickup, 48-year-old Delfino Mota Jr., died after being transported to a nearby hospital, according to authorities.

The bus did not have any passengers on it at the time of the crash, authorities said. The bus driver was not injured.

Authorities have not released any additional information about the Maricopa County crash at this time. The accident is still under investigation.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

When people read that a pickup truck and a city bus collided head-on at an intersection, a natural question arises: How does something like that even happen? Intersections don’t lend themselves to head-on collisions unless someone ends up in the wrong lane at the wrong time. That immediately raises questions about direction of travel, speed and what each driver was doing in the moments leading up to impact.

At this point, we don’t know who crossed the center line, or whether one of the vehicles was making a turn and mistimed it. The bus was reportedly empty, and its driver wasn’t hurt. That might suggest the pickup struck the bus, but that’s far from certain without more details. Was one driver asleep at the wheel? Distracted? Did mechanical failure or poor visibility play a role? These are all unanswered questions that only a thorough investigation can resolve.

In my experience, it takes more than a police report to get to the bottom of a serious crash like this. Investigators should already be looking for camera footage, either from nearby traffic signals or onboard bus systems. Metro Valley buses often have dash cams and interior cameras. If they're functioning, they may help clarify who entered the intersection when and from what direction. For the pickup, the key pieces of evidence may include phone records, black box data (if the vehicle was equipped) and any eyewitness accounts.

A head-on crash at 4 a.m. also raises another point: visibility and fatigue. Depending on whether streetlights were working or whether the intersection has proper signage and lighting, one or both drivers may have had little time to react. And at that hour, driver alertness is always a factor worth considering, especially if one of the vehicles was operating on a night shift schedule.

Without answers to those questions, we can’t say who’s responsible. But this much is clear: head-on collisions don’t happen at intersections without someone making a serious error. Whether that error was momentary or part of a longer chain of poor decisions remains to be seen.

Key Takeaways:

• A head-on crash at an intersection raises immediate questions about lane position, right of way and driver behavior.
• It's not yet clear which driver entered the intersection incorrectly or why.
• Video from traffic or onboard bus cameras may help determine how the collision occurred.
• Evidence like phone records, black box data and eyewitness statements will be crucial to piecing together what happened.
• Early-morning crashes often involve issues of fatigue, low visibility or impaired judgment, factors that must be examined closely.