Bus and Motorcoach Crashes in Middlesex County

Buses were in 350 of the 3,724 federally reportable truck and bus crashes in Middlesex County from 2021 through 2025, about 9 percent (FMCSA crash file). This page covers two recent Middlesex bus crashes, the insurance and notice rules, and where the report comes from. Garces, Grabler & LeBrocq, P.C. sorts out the operator question and files the notices for you.

August 9, 2022, New Jersey Turnpike, Woodbridge, near the Thomas Edison Service Area ramp. A double-decker intercity bus overturned after colliding with a pickup truck. Two people were killed. At least four lawsuits were filed against the operator; the latest was filed in Middlesex County Superior Court on January 24, 2024. The driver has alleged a tire blowout and a maintenance failure. We describe the litigation only as filed; nothing here is a statement about its merits or outcome.

January 31, 2024, US 130 and Stults Road, South Brunswick. A car turning left from Route 130 struck a school bus traveling the other way. Three people in the car were killed, and the bus driver was taken to a hospital. We list this as a bus-involved crash. It is not a claim against the bus, and the federal file counts it among the five fatal crashes on US 130 in these years (2021–2025, FMCSA crash file).

The Turnpike crash shows why bus cases spread across several companies: the owner, the operator, the maintenance contractor and the tire supplier can each hold part of the answer. The Route 130 crash shows the other side: a bus can be the vehicle that was hit, and its passengers’ claims run against the car’s driver and insurer.

If the bus was run by NJ Transit, a school district, a county or another public body, the New Jersey Tort Claims Act applies. A notice of claim must be filed within 90 days of the crash; suit may follow six months after the notice; and the claim is barred if two years pass. A judge may allow a late notice within one year only on a showing of “extraordinary circumstances” (N.J.S.A. 59:8-8, 59:8-9). Public entities also pay no punitive damages and no pre-judgment interest, and pain-and-suffering damages are limited to permanent injuries with medical expenses over $3,600 (N.J.S.A. 59:9-2).

Most federal motor carrier safety rules do not apply to buses operated by a government (49 CFR 390.3T), though CDL drug and alcohol testing still does (49 CFR 382.103). A private contractor driving a district’s students is a private defendant even though the trip is public. Identifying which one you are dealing with is the first task, and the 90-day clock is the reason it cannot wait.

Private carriers keep maintenance records for only one year (49 CFR 396.3). Tire and brake records matter in a case like the 2022 Turnpike crash, where a blowout and a maintenance failure have been alleged, so the preservation letter goes out as soon as we are retained. Our court and venue page explains where a bus case is heard; the 2022 Turnpike suits were filed in Middlesex County Superior Court at 56 Paterson Street in New Brunswick.