Rt. 52, County Line Rd: 106 Injury Crashes In Last Decade

SHOREWOOD, IL — An online petition drive launched by A.J. Thomas has collected more than 6,600 signatures asking the Illinois Department of Transportation to install a traffic control light at U.S. Route 52 and County Line Road. On Monday morning, a 17-year-old driver struck a Jeep at the dangerous intersection. The Jeep flipped several times, killing one of the backseat passengers — Paige Quinn, 27, of Minooka — who was ejected from the Jeep.

The Joliet teen was not seriously injured. He was traveling with a 14-year-old girl apparently on their way to school.

The new online petition on Change.Org is headlined, "A Traffic Light Is Needed At Route 52 And County Line Road."

"The effort to put a light at this intersection has seen little to no progress, how many more fatalities need to happen before any action is taken?" the online petition drive explains.

"Endless amounts of people are getting hurt or killed because there needs to be a red light at this intersection! This is a dangerous section road, because of the way the road bends, it limits the driver's field of vision when traveling westbound as you travel towards the intersection of IL RT 52 and County Line Rd."

Data provided to Patch on Tuesday afternoon by the Troy Fire Protection District indicates that firefighter/paramedics responded to 18 different crashes in 2018 at County Line Road and Route 52 and 11 in 2017. Troy Fire's data includes all of its ambulance responses to the intersection. It does not list whether any of the crashes were fatalities or multiple fatalities.

Thousands of people from the Will County area agree the intersection is bad.

Here's a sampling of comments from people who have signed the online petition:

• "I was on the scene of the fatal accident that occurred on 10/7/19. The curve is too dangerous and there is a blind spot that makes crossing the intersection very dangerous."
• "This intersection is too dangerous & needs a light. Let's add one at County Line & Route 126 while we're at it."
• "It is a very dangerous intersection."
• "This intersection is a hazard and some corrective measure should be taken before one more senseless loss occurs."
• "I agree this is a very dangerous intersection due to the curve in the road. People don't see the stop sign and something needs to be done to save lives."
• "Very dangerous intersection, lots of accidents, most recent took the life of wonderful person, Rest In Peace Paige."

On Tuesday afternoon, Joliet Patch interviewed Troy Fire Protection District Chief Andy Doyle at Station 1 near Route 59.

Troy and Minooka fire departments responded to Monday morning's fatality, transporting several patients to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, Doyle said.

Doyle said Route 52 and County Line Road has remained one of the most dangerous intersections in Troy Township for years. He ran a report for Joliet Patch on Tuesday afternoon that includes all ambulance transports handled by his department from 2009 through May 2, 2019.

Doyle emphasized the data kept by the Troy Fire District only tabulates crashes where victims were taken to the hospital.

He's positive there were many other crashes at Route 52 and County Line Road during the decade where the vehicles were damaged, but the drivers escaped serious injury.

Troy's fire chief believes the main reason for the danger is that it's along a curve. Motorists traveling from both directions along the Route 52 curve are traveling at least 55 mph.

On the other hand, he noted, it's not really an obstructed intersection.

"You should be able to see everything," Doyle said.

Years ago, U.S. Route 52 and Ridge Road was a terrible intersection for bad crashes, the fire chief noted. However, it's now a four-way stop with flashing red lights. As a result, the number of crashes has dropped dramatically, Doyle told Patch.

Doyle suggested a four-way stop sign or realigning the road would improve the safety at County Line Road and U.S. 52.

Many of the crashes are caused by motorists who don't come to a complete stop at County Line Road, Doyle said.

On Tuesday afternoon, while taking photos for this article, Joliet Patch saw one large white van pull up to the stop sign at County Line Road, slow to about 10 mph and then hit the gas, turning left against traffic onto Route 52.

The driver of the van beat the oncoming traffic by a couple seconds.

About a minute later, Patch saw a young woman driving a small compact car pull up to the stop sign at County Line Road. She was wearing sunglasses and holding a cell phone in her left hand with her window rolled down. She came to a complete stop at the dangerous intersection, but continued talking on her cell phone the entire time as she successfully darted across U.S. 52 before the oncoming traffic approached.

The deadly intersection is adjacent to The DeLong Co. Inc., a grain and agricultural-based business near the boundaries for Will County and Kendall County.

One of the operators of the grain business in rural Minooka told Joliet Patch: "It's near misses all day long."