Two people were killed and four people were injured, including two construction workers, in a Saturday afternoon accident on the New Jersey Turnpike. State Police say that a 31-year-old man from New York drove his car into a construction truck that was parked along the turnpike to protect workers from passing traffic. Two people inside the car were killed, two passengers were injured and two construction workers associated with the truck also sustained minor injuries in the wreck.

The driver of the car suffered fatal injuries in the crash, as did a passenger sitting in the back seat on the driver's side of the vehicle. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, while the passenger riding in the back seat was later pronounced dead at Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth. Two other passengers were taken to area hospitals after the New Jersey car accident.

A passenger riding in the back seat of the car on the passenger side, a Westchester, New York man, sustained serious personal injuries in the wreck. Emergency personnel brought him to University Hospital in Newark. Authorities report that he is in guarded condition at the hospital.

A front seat passenger in the car, a Pleasantville, New York mans who was reportedly celebrating his 25th birthday on the day of the accident, suffered less serious injuries and was taken to Trinitas for medical evaluation.

One of the injured construction workers was standing outside the truck, while the second worker was sitting inside the truck when a car veered onto the left shoulder and slammed into the protective construction truck, according to New Jersey State Police. Authorities say the tow workers suffered minor injuries in the Turnpike construction site accident.

The accident occurred on the Turnpike around 4:30 Saturday afternoon in Carteret.

Source: The Star-Ledger, "2 killed in N.J. Turnpike car accident," Feb. 5, 2012