2 New Jersey commuter buses collide, killing 1, injuring 18

NEWARK, NJ - NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- Two commuter buses slammed into each other in the heart of New Jersey's largest city Friday morning, killing one of the drivers and injuring 18 people, seven critically, authorities said.

The person killed was the driver of a New Jersey Transit bus that had no passengers when it slammed into the side of another NJ Transit bus carrying about 20 passengers at around 6 a.m.

"We're praying for all of those in the hospital," Mayor Ras Baraka said.

Jennifer Petrain was opening up a Starbucks about 100 yards from where the accident occurred. She said she heard a crash "like an explosion" and ran outside. She said she and a co-worker brought ice water, rags and a first aid kit.

"We were there before anybody was on the scene," Petrain said. "It was terrible. We saw people with head injuries, leg injuries."

Investigators were trying to determine if the driver who died ran a red light, Baraka said.

The intersection was the first in the state, in 2009, to feature a surveillance camera designed to catch people running red lights. Then-Mayor Cory Booker conducted a demonstration in which he purposely rode through a red light.

The red light camera program ultimately expanded to about two dozen towns and cities in New Jersey before it was discontinued in 2014 amid controversy and lawsuits.

Officials in Newark and other towns claimed the red light cameras reduced accidents. Critics disputed that and said the cameras were mainly used to rake in cash for cities and towns.

The force of Friday's crash left the westbound bus embedded in the side of the northbound bus, which had come to rest on a traffic median tipped at a 30-degree angle. Firefighters could be seen pulling passengers through a side window and loading them onto waiting stretchers and into ambulances.

The crash occurred as the bus without passengers began its route between Newark and Dunellen; the other bus was traveling between Irvington and Clifton, NJ Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder said.

The Essex County prosecutor is investigating the crash.