Home » Fatal Car Crash with Dump Truck on Route 29 in Titusville

Fatal Car Crash with Dump Truck on Route 29 in Titusville

by MercerMe Staff

On Monday, March 26, 2018 at 12:54pm, Hopewell Township Police were dispatched to a motor vehicle crash on Route 29, approximately three tenths of a mile north of Fiddler’s Creek Road. Officers arrived and found that a Mack dump truck had collided with a Ford Crown Victoria in the southbound lane. The collision caused both vehicles and a utility pole to catch on fire.

The first officer on scene, Officer Christopher Vaccarino, utilized a Stat-X fire suppression device and multiple fire extinguishers in an attempt to extinguish the fire. The Union Fire Company, Lambertville Fire Department and Hopewell Valley Emergency Services personnel responded to the scene and extinguished the fire.

The driver of the truck, James Bilton (59 years of age, Edgewater Park, NJ) did not suffer any serious injury.

Unfortunately, the driver and passenger of the car were pronounced dead at the scene. Their names are not being released at this time pending positive identification by the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office and notification of next of kin.

Investigation into the crash revealed that Bilton was traveling northbound along Route 29 while the other car was traveling southbound. The vehicles collided in the southbound lane causing the vehicles to come to rest against a stone wall along the southbound shoulder of the roadway. The roadway is one lane in each direction. No other vehicles were involved.

Route 29 in the area of the crash scene remains closed to traffic at this time. The New Jersey State Police Traffic Incident Management Unit has Route 29 traffic being detoured onto County Routes 546, 579 and 518 around the crash scene.

JCP&L personnel are on scene and will be making repairs to damaged utility poles. Sections of Titusville are without power due to this collision.

The crash is being investigated by Officer Christopher Vaccarino, Detective Louis Vastola, and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office Serious Collision Response Team.

Anyone who may have witnessed this crash is asked to contact Detective Louis Vastola at 609-737-3100 ext. 5320. The crash remains under investigation.

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