Semi Crashes Into 4 Cars On Edens Spur, 5 Hospitalized: Police

NORTHBROOK, IL — Five people were seriously injured after a tractor-trailer crashed into four cars Sunday on eastbound Interstate 94 in Northbrook, state police said. The four cars — a black KIA Sportage, gray Honda Odyssey, gray Toyota Highlander and blue Nissan van — had been stopped in heavy traffic near the toll plaza around 2:15 p.m. when a Volvo tractor with a green semi-trailer struck all of them from behind.

Police said five people, including both drivers and passengers, were taken to nearby hospitals in with life-threatening injuries. A 36-year-old Chicago man, 46-year-old Round Lake Beach woman, 37-year-old Mundelein woman, 48-year-old Lindenhurst woman and a 13-year-old girl travelling with her in the Honda were all hospitalized.

The driver of the truck, a 23-year-old Chicago man, was issued a citation for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident. The truck driver, a Deerfield family in the Toyota and an Elk Grove Village man in the Nissan were uninjured in the crash.

Traffic in the eastbound I-Pass lanes was expected to remain closed for several hours, state police said. Drivers were routed through the manual lanes on the right of the toll plaza. Illinois State Police said an investigation into the cause of the crash was ongoing. There was no immediate indication why the driver of the tractor-trailer failed to stop. Police said normal traffic patterns were restored shortly before 9 p.m.

(Photo credit: Max Weingardt) pic.twitter.com/VDjD9KaXyG
— North Shore Updates (@UpdatesNorth) April 21, 2019