Category: vehicle accidents

Crashes that occur at existing accident scenes continue to be a major traffic safety concern. There have been many crashes in which motorists and other people have been injured or killed after a crash occurs at an existing accident scene.

There are many reasons as to why this type of secondary accident can occur. Often, those who have been injured in the original accident are anxious to get out of their vehicles, which may or may not be safe to do. As well, there can be a considerable amount of uncertainty at accident scenes, which may distract drivers of other vehicles. As well, there can be traffic actively passing accident scenes.

For the same reasons as discussed above, stalled vehicles can also present a traffic safety hazard for both the motorist of the stalled vehicle as well as other motorists. As well, those who attempt to fix or move the stalled vehicle may be at risk. These include tow truck drivers, police officers, and others.

There was a fatal accident in which a man was killed as he attempted to assist a stalled vehicle. This fatal accident occurred on Route 47 over the Illinois River Bridge in Morris on August 18, 2019.

An excerpt regarding this fatal accident, from the August 19 wspynews.com article titled “Off Duty Cook County Sheriff’s Officer Dies While Aiding in Crash on Illinois River Bridge in Morris.” An excerpt:

The Morris Police Department said a vehicle broke down in the southbound lanes of Route 47 and another vehicle assisted at the scene. That’s when another vehicle rear-ended the assisting vehicle causing a chain reaction.

Several people were injured at the accident scene and taken to hospitals. One of these people was an off duty Cook County Sheriff’s Officer identified as Ronald Prohaska, 50. He died after being flown to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove for treatment of his accident injuries.

According to the August 20, 2019 wgntv.com article titled “Cook County officer killed while helping stalled motorist in Morris” a motorist was cited regarding this “chain-reaction” crash. An excerpt:

Authorities say Matthew Taylor of Morris was issued a citation for failure to reduce speed. Morris police says the crash remains under investigation.

Additional details can be seen in the sources mentioned above.

There was a traffic accident early this morning on Interstate 55 (I-55) near Bolingbrook.

Details on the accident appear limited at this time.  An excerpt from the October 18, 2017 Bolingbrook Patch article titled “Crash On I-55 Blocks Left Lane, Slows Traffic“:

An early morning crash on Interstate 55 near Bolingbrook has caused backups for miles in the northbound lanes. Reports from multiple Chicagoland traffic reporters on Twitter indicate the crash occurred in the left lane of the northbound lanes of I-55 between Route 53 and I-355.

It is unknown if there were any injuries in the accident, which occurred shortly after 6:00 a.m.  As discussed in the article, the accident caused extensive traffic delays.

Will County has a variety of major expressways, and serious accidents occur on a regular basis.  If you are hurt during a traffic accident, there are a number of steps that you should take to protect both your health as well as your legal rights.  The Elman Law Group has provided a document titled “Steps To Take After An Auto Accident” in which 10 steps are described.  It is very important that these steps be taken as soon as possible, as many are time-critical from both a medical and legal perspective.  Elman Law Group offers a free legal consultation.  Tony Elman, Lead Trial Attorney of the Elman Law Group, can be reached at (773) 392-8182 at any time.

As to what the best steps are to prevent accident injuries, there are many recommendations with regard to safe driving.  Among the best injury prevention measure is for all vehicle occupants to wear seat belts (or in the case of a young child or infant, a properly-adjusted car seat.)  The safety benefits of seat belt usage are more fully discussed on the “Seat Belts As An Injury Preventative Measure” page.

Among the benefits provided by seat belt usage is that the possibility of the driver or other vehicle occupant is ejected (i.e. partially or fully thrown from the vehicle) during the accident is substantially reduced.  These vehicle ejections can occur during various types of accidents.  Among the accidents in which ejections are most common are vehicle rollover accidents and head-on collisions.

There was a “chain-reaction crash” on I-55 at Arsenal Road this afternoon, April 11, 2016.

The accident happened in an area in which the Illinois Department of Transportation had temporary lane closures in order to do road repairs.  According to an April 11 IDOT news release:

temporary lane closures are underway on outbound Interstate 55, over the BNSF Railroad, near Channahon, Monday, April 11. The closure is necessary to repair a hole in the bridge deck

The chain-reaction crash happened at approximately 1:00 p.m., and involved both a semi and cars.  Three people were injured and taken to a hospital for treatment of their accident injuries.

An excerpt from the April 11, 2016 Joliet Patch article titled “Chain Reaction Crash on I-55 Sends 3 People to Hospital.”

“I believe it was because IDOT was doing emergency road repair so it went down to one lane and as usual traffic was backing up and people weren’t paying attention,” Illinois State Police Sergeant Scott Angus.

Additional details regarding this Will County accident can be seen in a variety of media sources, including the Joliet Patch article and IDOT news release.

There was a Will County head-on collision Wednesday morning (August 19, 2015) in Plainfield.

According to the Illinois State Police (ISP) the collision happened at approximately 9:43 a.m. on U.S. 30 and West 127th Street, and involved a semi truck and car colliding in a “head-on” crash.

It is unknown what caused the accident, but one vehicle may have veered into the opposing lane.

Both vehicles were heavily damaged in the crash.

The driver of the car, said to be a man in his forties from Plainfield, had to be extricated from his vehicle.  He was then flown to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital to Downers Grove for treatment of his accident injuries.

Additional details regarding this Will County collision can be seen in a variety of media sources, including the August 19, 2015 Plainfield Patch article titled “Plainfield Man in Critical Condition After Crash with Semi.”

A man has died following an accident in Plainfield on May 1, 2015 involving a moped crash.

The May 1 accident happened as the man, Sean McGrail, 20, of Plainfield Township, was riding a moped in the 1800 block of Arbor Gate Drive.  For reasons unknown, he crashed his moped into a parked vehicle.

An excerpt from the May 15, 2015 Channahon-Minooka Patch article titled “Plainfield Man Injured in Moped Accident Dies After Two Weeks in Hospital“:

McGrail’s family said he suffered a severe brain injury and was in a medically-induced coma.

According to the Will County Coroner’s Office, he was pronounced deceased Thursday evening (May 14, 2015) at Presence St. Joseph Medical Center.

Additional details regarding this Will County accident can be seen in a variety of media sources, including the Patch article mentioned above, as well as the May 15 Chicago Sun-Times article titled “Man dies two weeks after motorcycle crash in Plainfield” and the May 15 Herald-News article titled “Plainfield Township man dies after scooter crash.”

There was a fatal Will County multi-vehicle accident Sunday morning (May 3, 2015) on Interstate 80 (I-80) in Joliet.

According to the Illinois State Police (ISP) the accident happened at approximately 11:25 a.m., when a Chevrolet pickup truck heading westbound drove into opposing (eastbound) traffic near the Chicago Street exit.

The collision that followed involved the pickup truck and four other vehicles.

The driver of the pickup truck, identified as a 65-year-old man from Joliet, was declared dead at the accident scene.

Two other people hurt during the collision were taken to Silver Cross Hospital for treatment of their accident injuries.  They were released Sunday afternoon.

Additional details regarding this fatal Will County crash can be seen in a variety of media sources, including the May 3, 2015 NBC Chicago article titled “One Dead After Five-Vehicle Crash Involving RV on I-80” as well as the May 3 Chicago Tribune article titled “1 dead in 5-vehicle crash in Will County.”

There was a fatal Will County collision between a semi truck and car Wednesday afternoon (April 8, 2015) on Interstate 55 (I-55) in Plainfield, Illinois.

According to the Illinois State Police (ISP), the accident happened at 4:26 p.m., as a semi truck traveling northbound hit a 1999 Chrysler that was disabled on the roadway.

The driver of the car, Eric Sharpe, 47, of Joliet, was extricated from the car, but had already died from accident injuries.

The driver of the semi was taken to a hospital and had injuries considered to be non-life-threatening.

An excerpt from the April 8, 2015 Plainfield Patch article titled “Car Trouble May Have Been Factor In Fatal I-55 Crash“:

Witnesses to the accident said that Sharpe may have been experiencing car trouble and was trying to pull to the side of I-55. As one semi swerved to avoid hitting the Chrysler, another semi struck Sharpe’s car, Stratton said.

The accident remains under investigation by the ISP.

Additional information and possible updates concerning this fatal Will County vehicle accident can be seen in a variety of media sources, including the April 8, 2015 Chicago Tribune article titled “Truck hits disabled vehicle on I-55, killing 1” as well as the April 8 Plainfield Patch article titled “Car Trouble May Have Been Factor In Fatal I-55 Crash.”

There was a Will County accident Tuesday afternoon (March 17, 2015) involving a U.S. Postal Service truck and a car near Plainfield.

According to the Illinois State Police (ISP) the vehicle collision happened at Illinois Route 126 and County Line Road at approximately 4:30 p.m.

There appears to be somewhat conflicting explanations among media sources as to the cause of the accident.

Here is an excerpt from the March 17, 2015 Chicago Tribune article titled “2 injured after crash involving U.S. Postal truck near Will-Kendall border“:

According to preliminary information the postal truck was traveling on Route 126 eastbound, west of County Line Road. The truck braked suddenly for traffic, causing the truck to roll over on its side on the westbound lane, police said.

The Volkswagen, which was traveling west on Route 126, then struck the side of the postal truck, police said.

Additional information and possible updates regarding this Will County accident can be seen in a variety of media sources, including the Chicago Tribune article mentioned above, as well as the March 17 Herald News article titled “Crash closes Route 126 between Drauden, Plainfield” and the March 17 CBS Chicago article titled “Two Injured In Head-On Crash Involving USPS Truck.”

There were two Will County vehicle accidents in Shorewood, Illinois in the last couple of days.

The first accident happened on Monday night (December 22, 2014) on I-55 near Route 52, and is summarized in the December 23, 2014 CBS Chicago article titled “Five Injured In I-55 Crash.”

According to Shorewood Police, the second accident happened on Tuesday (December 23, 2014) and occurred when a car collided with a UPS truck on Route 59 near Meyers Street, south of Route 52.

This accident happened at approximately 11:00 a.m., and happened as the UPS truck had stopped to make deliveries.  At that time, a Isuzu Trooper “rear-ended” the truck.

All four people in the Isuzu, including a husband and wife and two children, as well as the UPS truck driver, were injured.

All injuries were considered to be non-life-threatening.

Additional details regarding this Will County collision can be seen in a variety of media sources, including the December 23, 2014 The Herald-News article titled “Five injured in Tuesday crash in Shorewood” as well as the December 23 mysuburbanlife.com article titled “Five injured in Tuesday crash in Shorewood.”

There was a fatal Will County vehicle accident on Interstate 55 in Channahon Township on Wednesday morning, December 10, 2014.  The man killed was identified as Ryan Smith, 19, of Morris.

An excerpt from the December 11, 2014 Morris Daily Herald article titled “Morris man killed in I-55 accident Wednesday“:

Smith was driving north about 7:30 p.m. in a Ford pickup in the left lane when a semitrailer changed lanes and cut him off, witnesses told state police. Smith swerved to avoid hitting the semitrailer. He was ejected from his pickup as it rolled over several times in the median ditch before the truck came to rest in the southbound lanes south of the Route 6 interchange.

Smith was taken to the Presence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet.  According to the Will County Coroner’s Office he was pronounced dead at 8:28 p.m.

The driver of the semitrailer did not stop, and the driver has not been identified.

Additional details and possible updates concerning this fatal Will County accident can be seen in a variety of media sources, including the Morris Daily Herald article mentioned above (which also has remembrances) as well as the Channahon-Minooka Patch article of December 11, 2014 titled “Morris Teen Dies in I-55 crash.”