Truck Driver May Not Have Known Trailer Was Hit
Illinois State Police and firefighters and paramedics from Elk Grove Township responded about 9:42 a.m. Monday, October 24, 2022 to a report of a crash involving a passenger vehicle and a semi-trailer truck.
An Illinois State Police trooper was with a stopped truck waiting for a tow at 70.25 MM westbound on I-90 when a motorist pulled up and told the trooper that a car just crashed into the back of a semi-trailer truck about one-half mile east of the trooper’s location.
About the same time a HELP 5 Tollway Maintenance crew member reported he spotted a crash blocking Lane 3 and Lane 4 at the 70.75 MM West. On arrival, HELP 5 reported a man was down to the right of the vehicle. The man was in and out of consciousness and unresponsive. An Illinois State Police trooper on arrival did not find a pulse and began CPR.
Mile Marker 70.25, where the trooper was stopped with the truck, is near the Meijer store. Mile Marker values increase from west to east on Interstate 90 with the zero origin at the Illinois Wisconsin border.
The crash scene, near Mile Marker 70.75 and Mile Marker 71.0, was located on I-90 near Arlington Heights Road. Mile Marker 70.75 is located just west of Arlington Heights Road, but before the entrance ramp from southbound Arlington Heights Road.
Mile Marker 71.0 is located just east of Arlington Heights Road near the beginning of the exit ramps from I-90 West to Arlington Heights. The mile marker are like bookends to the quarter-mile bridge over Arlington Heights Raod. The crash location was close to Arlington Heights Fire Department Station 3 on South Arlington Heights Road, but westbound lane crashes on I-90 east of Arlington Heights Road are assigned to Elk Grove Township firefighters and paramedics.
Historically, crashes near this location are troublesome when the crash location is not reported accurately because Arlington Heights firefighters and paramedics cannot safely respond to the westbound lanes of I-90 east of the entrance ramp from southbound Arlington Heights Road. In Monday’s incident both the trooper and the HELP truck crew member reported the crash location accurately so that the appropriate firefighters and paramedics were assigned.
Elk Grove Township firefighters and paramedics were on scene by about 9:53 a.m. The male victim, a 50 year-old resident of Waukegan, was transported to Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, where he was pronounced dead at 10:51 a.m.
A Crash Reconstruction Officer was requested, and the crash is under investigation. The semi-trailer truck was not at the scene of the crash, and the driver of the semi-trailer truck may not have been aware that the trailer was hit by the passenger vehicle.
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