A pickup truck struck a Taco Bell in Elmwood Park. The 70-year-old driver was hospitalized, and police say a preliminary investigation points to a medical episode behind the wheel as the cause.
The collision also involved a utility pole and power box near the Market Street location.
Emergency Crews Swarm the Scene
The response brought a wide mix of agencies to the Taco Bell parking lot. Elmwood Park police, the Elmwood Park Fire Department, and the borough's EMS squad all responded to the scene, the station's report notes. They were joined by Saddle Brook police officers, New Jersey Transit police officers, and Bergen County Sheriff's Office officers, reflecting the scale of the disruption caused by the downed utility pole and dead traffic signal.
Medical Episodes Behind the Wheel Are Rare, But Age Raises Risk
Crashes triggered by a driver's sudden medical emergency are statistically uncommon. A federal crash-causation study cited by NHTSA found that such episodes accounted for only about 1.3 percent of drivers studied nationally, though the research also noted that older drivers have relatively higher incidences of these crashes. Separate research has looked at how prescription drug use among older adults factors into crash risk: a study indexed by the National Institutes of Health found that a majority of crash-involved older adults used multiple potentially driver-impairing medication classes in both periods.
New Jersey does have a process for flagging drivers whose medical conditions may affect their ability to drive safely. According to the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, about 55 percent of such cases are referred to doctors on the agency's Medical Advisory Panel, who review records and test results supplied by a driver's personal physician. The panel does not examine drivers directly or communicate with them, the commission notes.
It remains unclear whether the Elmwood Park crash will prompt any review under that process, and investigators have not released further details about the driver's condition or the exact nature of the medical episode.
