Category: truck accidents

Semi truck accidents in Will County occur in significant numbers for various reasons, as discussed on the “Will County Truck Accidents” page. Due to many physical characteristics of trucks, as well as the physics involved of driving and stopping trucks, trucks inherently are prone to loss of control issues. Many of these loss of control incidents lead to semi truck accidents in which people are often seriously, if not fatally, injured. This is especially so in truck accidents involving smaller vehicles such as cars, SUVs and pickup trucks, which have a distinctive weight and size disadvantage. A recent example of such semi truck accidents can be seen in the February 19, 2019 fatal Manhattan crash at the intersection of Cedar Road and Baker Road; a pickup truck and a semi truck were involved. Further instances of serious Will County semi truck accidents that have caused injury and in some cases death can be seen discussed in posts found under the “truck accidents” category.

There was another serious truck accident Wednesday (February 20, 2019) night in Plainfield. The truck crash occurred on Route 59 and was a single-vehicle accident.

The cause of this crash does not appear to be publicly disclosed at this time. The crash is discussed in a variety of media sources, including the February 20 Joliet Patch article titled “‘Major’ Semi Crash Closes Road, Causes Power Outage: Police.”

An excerpt:

A crash on Route 59 between 111th Street and 119th Street closed a section of Route 59 and sparked a power outage in the Champion Creek subdivision, Plainfield police said. According to police, a semi-tractor trailer was involved in a single-vehicle crash and struck a utility pole.

The crash caused street closures for a period of time.

Additional details regarding these semi truck accidents can be seen in a variety of media sources, including those mentioned above.

There was a fatal Manhattan collision this morning (February 19, 2019.) Details on the accident appear limited at this time. However, from what has been disclosed concerning this fatal Manhattan collision, the accident scene was at the intersection of Cedar Road and Baker Road. The vehicles involved included a pickup truck and a semi truck.

The accident occurred at approximately 5:54 a.m. The driver of the pickup truck, initially identified as a 49-year-old resident of New Lenox, was declared dead at the accident scene. The decedent was later identified as
James E. Harbin.

The truck driver, a 55-year-old man from Manhattan, was not injured during the accident.

This fatal accident remains under investigation. The cause of the collision does not appear to be publicly disclosed at this time. The New Lenox Police Department is asking those who may have information concerning this fatal Manhattan collision to contact Det. Mike Holford at (815) 478-4408.

Additional details and possible updates concerning this fatal Manhattan collision can be seen in a variety of media sources, including the February 19, 2019 Mokena Patch article titled “New Lenox Driver Dies In Manhattan Crash.”

There was a October 2, 2018 truck accident on I-80 which involved several trucks.

Details on the accident as well as the resulting accident injuries appear to be limited at this time.

This truck accident on I-80 is discussed in a variety of media sources, including the October 2, 2018 Channahon Patch article titled “Bad I-80 Wreck In Joliet Shuts Down Traffic.”

An excerpt:

Westbound traffic along Interstate 80 in Joliet has come to a crawl after a collision involving several trucks in the westbound lanes.

The crash happened between Chicago Street and Larkin Avenue.

As seen in the accident scene photo, it appears as if one of the trucks rolled over and another semi truck went into the median.

As a result of the crash, the westbound lanes of I-80 were closed.

As discussed on the “Will County Truck Accidents” page, due to various reasons there are a significant number of truck accidents that occur in Will County.  Truck traffic is heavy in the county.  As seen in the Will County truck accident statistics provided by the Illinois Department of Transportation data, there were over 1000 Will County truck accidents in 2016 (the most recent year of accident data.)  Of these crashes, over 900 involved semi trucks.

There are many reasons that semi trucks are prone to be involved in accidents.  Among these reasons is that semi trucks take a long time to slow down or come to a stop;  as well, due to their weight they can be hard to control during hard braking.

As well, due to the amount of time truck drivers spend driving, semi truck drivers can experience significant fatigue and drowsiness issues.   As seen in many Illinois semi truck accidents, these fatigue and drowsiness issues have caused many truck accidents.  Some of these crashes have involved the truck driver falling asleep while driving.

Additional details and possible updates concerning the truck accident on I-80 discussed above as well as the broader issue of Will County truck accidents can be seen in the sources mentioned above.

Will County truck accidents frequently occur. There are many reasons why Will County has a relatively high amount of traffic accidents involving trucks. Among these reasons is the types of businesses located in Will County and the types of roadways in the county.

There are many reasons that truck crashes occur. As discussed on the “Will County Truck Accidents” page, trucks are prone to crashing due to many physical characteristics. Among these characteristics is that they are heavy and take longer to stop; as well, shifting weight during hard braking can be a significant factor as to whether the truck driver loses control of the semi or other truck. Also, the truck needs to be properly loaded as far as weight distribution and overall weight is concerned in order for the truck to safely travel. There have been various truck crashes that have involved improperly loaded trucks.

Another factor that is discussed on the truck accidents page mentioned above is the truck driver and his or her fitness to drive. Truck driver fatigue has been a significant concern which various regulations have tried to address. Various Will County truck accidents as well as others throughout Illinois have involved the truck driver either being drowsy and inattentive while driving, or falling asleep while driving. These crashes that have occurred because of these “drowsy driver” and drivers who have “fallen asleep at the wheel” have led to serious accident injuries and several high-profile fatalities.

A recent example of a Will County truck crash is discussed on the September 21, 2018 The Herald-News article titled “Overturned semi causes morning delays on I-55.” While the article does not discuss what caused the semi to overturn, this incident illustrates that accidents involving trucks often are significant in nature. The potential for significant crashes are higher on expressways such as I-80 and I-55, where the speeds are typically higher.

Additional details on Will County truck accidents can be seen in the sources mentioned above. On this site, individual Will County truck accidents that have caused injury or death can be seen in posts under the “Truck Accidents” category.

There was an Elwood truck crash Wednesday (July 18, 2018) morning.

As discussed on the Will County Truck Accidents page, Will County has many truck accidents due to the large amount of truck traffic that travels throughout the county.  For various reasons, many of these accidents occur in Elwood.

An excerpt from that page:

As seen in crash data statistics provided by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) in 2014 there were nearly 1000 semi truck accidents in Will County, and another 369 “single-unit” truck crashes.  Of these accidents, 237 involved injuries, and 18 were fatal.

In the city of Elwood, there were 44 truck accidents, two of which were fatal.

Accidents involving semi trucks are notable, as they often result in substantial impacts due to the weight, large size, and other characteristics of the semi trucks.

The Elwood truck crash that happened today occurred at approximately 6:25 a.m. at Arsenal Road and Elwood International Port Road.

An excerpt concerning the crash, from the July 18, 2018 Channahon Patch article titled “Semi Runs Red Light At Arsenal Road, 4 Hurt: Police“:

According to Elwood Police, a 2007 Mack semi-truck with a trailer chassis was headed south on EIP when the driver “ran the red light at Arsenal Road and struck a 2006 Chrysler sedan traveling eastbound on Arsenal.”

The crash’s impact knocked the semi-truck into the path of a 2014 Dodge passenger van, police said. That van had been stopped in the left turn lane on EIP.

Four people were injured and taken to the hospital for treatment of accident injuries as a result of the collision.  The injuries were considered to be non-life-threatening in nature.

According to Elwood Police, the truck driver, from Markham, was given three citations related to the crash.

Additional details and possible updates concerning this Elwood truck crash can be seen in a variety of media sources, including the Channahon Patch article mentioned above.

A I-355 fatal truck accident happened crash near New Lenox on Tuesday (January 30, 2018) afternoon.   The accident involved a loss of control.

The accident happened on the southbound I-355 feeder ramp onto I-80 shortly before 3:30 p.m.  At that time, the truck lost control and crashed into the bridge, then toppled over the wall and rolled down the embankment.

According to the January 30, 2018 Daily Herald article titled “One dead after semi goes off I-355 ramp near New Lenox” (with accident scene photo) the Illinois State Police indicated that a load shift caused the truck to fall to the right just before the crash.

The driver of the truck, identified by the Will County Coroner’s Office as  Serghei Valint, 33, of Wheeling, was pronounced dead at 4:54 p.m.  Another person was injured.

An accident investigation, including an accident reconstruction, is being conducted by the Illinois State Police.

Additional details and possible updates concerning this Will County fatal truck accident can be seen in the article mentioned above as well as the January 31 Joliet Patch article (with accident scene photo) titled “Trucker Killed After Semi Dangles Near New Lenox Overpass.”

There was a truck accident on Interstate 80 (I-80) in Joliet after which two people have died.

According to information provided by the Illinois State Police (ISP) the accident happened just after 6:10 a.m. Tuesday morning, September 26, 2017.  At that time, two FedEx semi trucks were parked on the right shoulder of I-80.  One of the semi trucks had broken down and another had stopped in front of it.

Then, a third semi truck that had been traveling on eastbound I-80 veered onto the right shoulder and struck the first truck and one of the drivers (identified as Sami Guzick, 50, of Joliet) of the FedEx trucks who was outside the truck.  Sami Guzick died at the accident scene.

A large fire followed the collision.

The FedEx truck that had broken down was driven by Jugoslav Djordjevic, 49, of La Grange.  An excerpt from the September 28, 2017 abc7chicago.com article (with accident scene photo) titled “Driver cited in deadly, multi-semi crash on I-80 in Joliet…“:

Djordjevic was airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center, where he died Wednesday, state police said. An autopsy found he died of full-body burns in the crash, and his death was ruled an accident.

An excerpt from the Chicago Sun-Times article of September 28 (with accident scene photo) titled “2 killed in I-80 crash that shut down eastbound lanes for hours“:

The driver of the third semi, a 46-year-old Chicago man, was also hospitalized with serious injuries, police said. He was cited for improper lane usage and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

The interstate was shut down for hours while the Illinois State Police Reconstruction Unit was at the scene and clean-up crews removed debris, police said. All eastbound lanes reopened about 5 p.m.

Additional details and possible updates concerning this Will County truck accident can be seen in a variety of media sources including the articles mentioned above as well as the September 27 Joliet Patch article titled “Charges Pending In I-80 Wreck That Killed Joliet Woman:  Police.”

Truck accidents that occur in Will County are discussed on the “Will County Truck Accidents” page.  This page discusses various Will County truck accident statistics, and discusses causes of truck accidents.

Individual posts that largely summarize truck accidents that have happened in Will County are seen under the “truck accidents” category.

Newly released research from Medline Plus (National Institutes of Health) discusses another factor that appears to have an influence on truck crashes – the health of the truck driver.

An excerpt from the Medline Plus page titled “Truckers’ Poor Health:  An Accident Waiting to Happen?“:

Researchers examined data from more than 49,000 commercial truck drivers and found that 34 percent had at least one of several health problems — such as heart disease, low back pain and diabetes — that have been linked with poor driving performance.

Truck drivers with three or more of the flagged medical conditions were two to four times more likely to be in a crash than their healthier peers, the University of Utah researchers found.

For example, the rate of crashes resulting in injury among all truck drivers was 29 per 100 million miles traveled, but was 93 per 100 million miles traveled for drivers with three or more of the identified health problems.

However, the study wasn’t designed to prove a cause-and-effect link.

Additional details and possible updates concerning this issue can be seen in the Medline Plus page mentioned above.

There was a fatal truck accident early this morning (December 20, 2016) on Interstate 55 (I-55) in Bolingbrook.

According to the Illinois State Police (ISP) the accident happened shortly before 3:30 a.m., in the northbound lanes.  The collision between the two trucks occurred near Route 53.  Several cars may have been involved as well.

An excerpt from the Bolingbrook Patch article of December 20, 2016, titled “Driver Killed as Semis Collide on I-55 in Southwest Suburbs“:

Cars slid into the trucks after they careened out of control. The vehicles reportedly slid on highway ice.

William A. Hansen Jr., 60, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, died at the scene, according to the Will County coroner’s office.

Additional details regarding this Will County fatal accident can be seen in a variety of media sources, including the Bolingbrook Patch article seen above, as well as the December 20 NBC Chicago article (with videos) titled “Deadly Semi Crash Closes Northbound I-55 at Route 53.”