School Bus, 2 Vehicles Collide: 3 Sent To Hospital In Bridgewater

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — A school bus with no children on board was involved in a serious motor vehicle crash that sent three people to the hospital on Washington Valley Road on Thursday afternoon, Bridgewater Police said.

Just before 3 p.m. Adelaide Pereira of Basking Ridge was driving north on Blossom Drive in a 2015 Honda Accord when she tried to turn right onto Washington Valley Road, Bridgewater Police Officer John Kennedy said.

Pereira hit a full-size school bus driving east on Washington Valley Road causing the bus to veer into the westbound lane of Washington Valley Road and hitting the driver's side of a 2012 Ford Flex, being driven by Harry Olaya of Hillsborough, Kennedy said.

Pereria was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital New Brunswick and the driver of the First Student school bus, Douglas Ferriday of Bedminster, was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, both with non-life threatening injuries.

Olaya was taken to Morristown Memorial Hospital by New Jersey State Police Northstar Medivac helicopter with life threatening injuries.

There were no children present on the school bus at the time of the accident, Bridgewater Police Lt. John Mitzak said.

Investigators from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Collision Analysis Reconstruction Team (CART) came out to help the Bridgewater Township Police Department with the investigation.

The Martinsville Fire Department and Far Hills -Bedminster Fire Department came out to extricate two of the drivers from their vehicles. Somerville and Green Knoll Rescue Squads, along with Robert Wood Johnson Rescue and Paramedic Units also responded.

The crash caused Washington Valley Road to close between Brown Road and Route 202/206. It has since been reopened as of 8 p.m.

The crash is still under investigation by the Bridgewater Township Police Department's Traffic Safety Bureau.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Bridgewater Police Traffic Safety Bureau at 908-722-4111 X4132, or the Bridgewater TIPS line at 877-660-INFO (4636).

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