1 dead and 3 injured when car drives through construction site in New Jersey

A New Jersey road worker was killed and three others were injured when a driver reportedly plowed into a garbage truck, with one of the vehicles hitting the victims.

The 9:45 a.m. accident caused the White Horse Pike in Camden County to shut down Wednesday, ABC News affiliate WPVI reported. Neither the woman driving nor the workers have been identified, but all four victims reportedly worked for New Jersey American Water.

KYW News Radio described the incident as a three-car crash involving an elderly driver who, according to a witness, “accelerated sharply across the grass,” sending one of the workers into oncoming traffic.

According to reports, one of the workers had to be hospitalized.

A spokeswoman for the water utility told the Courier-Post that the injured employees were installing a meter pit when “a stranger’s vehicle” entered their work area just over 10 miles east of Philadelphia.

Video from the scene shows investigators surrounding a white Infiniti with New Jersey state plates that sustained significant front-end damage. The driver, whose vehicle is believed to have played a major role in the crash, suffered minor injuries but was severely shaken, ABC News of Philadelphia reported.

Magnolia Police Chief John Huston told ABC News that the accident occurred on a problematic stretch of major road that authorities recently began working to make safer.

“This is a dangerous section of the White Horse Pike,” Huston said.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 1,008 people died in the private construction industry in 2022, more than any other workplace. According to The City, 24 New York construction workers died on the job that same year.

A New Jersey construction worker died earlier this month when he fell into a large hole while installing a sewer in Kenilworth, police said. An excavator was used on the project.