Bus, Truck Collision Injures One, Snarls Traffic In West Hartford

WEST HARTFORD, CT — The driver of a CT Transit bus is lucky to be alive Wednesday morning after a collision involving a passenger bus and a tractor trailer in a busy West Hartford intersection.

The situation, police said, required extensive closures at the intersection of Albany Avenue (Route 44) and Trout Brook Drive, but the bus driver — the lone occupant — suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

According to West Hartford police, officers arrived to the intersection at about 5:06 a.m. following reports of a major collision there.

When police arrived, they saw that a transit bus had plowed into a tractor trailer, according to the WHPD.

"Due to the nature of the collision, the operator/only occupant of the CT transit bus became entrapped within the vehicle and required extrication by members of the West Hartford Fire Department," police said in a release Wednesday morning.

Once removed from the vehicle, the operator of the bus was taken to an area hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Photographs from the accident scene paint a clear picture of just how lucky the driver was to survive.

According to police images from the scene, the front of the bus is completely destroyed after it smashed into the trailer portion of the tractor trailer.

The operator and lone occupant of the tractor trailer reported no injuries, police said.

Following the accident, police completely closed the intersection to traffic in all directions, but later in the morning, they reopened part of it.

By about 9:30 a.m., the WHPD reported the intersection was open in all directions.

Police said the collision is still being investigated by the West Hartford Police Department Traffic Division.

In addition, CT Transit, the Connecticut Department of Transportation, Connecticut State Police and the West Hartford Department of Public Works were all notified and assisted with various aspects of investigation.

Anyone with information related to this investigation can contact the West Hartford Police Department at 860-523-5203 or use the WHPD Tip Line/email at 860-570-8969 or whpdtips@westhartfordct.gov.