A Thursday morning commute on Illinois Route 173 in Wadsworth turned deadly when a car carrying two Stoughton, Wisconsin, residents collided head-on with a semi-truck, killing both people in the car and injuring a third driver.
Lake County deputies and Newport Township firefighters arrived just before 8 a.m. to find a heavily damaged 2009 Acura and a Freightliner semi-truck that had crashed on the undivided stretch of highway. Both people in the Acura were pronounced dead at the scene. A Honda minivan that became part of the wreck was later towed from the site, and its driver was hospitalized with injuries described as non-life-threatening. The semi-truck driver was not hurt and is cooperating with investigators.
How the crash unfolded
Investigators say the Acura, driven eastbound by 51-year-old Kelly Wooten, drifted into the westbound lane of Route 173 and into the path of a Freightliner semi-truck hauling roughly 35,000 pounds. The impact was a direct head-on collision. Wooten died at the scene, along with passenger 45-year-old Jacklyn Bradley.
The Lake County Coroner's Office identified both victims and reported that preliminary autopsy results showed they died from blunt-force injuries, according to Fox47.
The third vehicle was struck in response.
After the initial collision between the Acura and the semi, an eastbound Honda minivan driven by a 54-year-old woman from Salem, Wisconsin, hit the wrecked Acura. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where her injuries were described as non-life-threatening.
Deputies said the semi-truck's driver, a 25-year-old man from Evergreen Park, was not injured and is cooperating with the ongoing investigation. The Lake County Sheriff's Office Technical Crash Investigations Team is handling the reconstruction of the crash scene, according to WMTV.
Road closures and local impact
Route 173 was shut down between Kilbourne Road and U.S. 41 for several hours while first responders cleared the wreckage, and crash investigators documented the scene. Newport Township Fire Protection District crews and Lake County Sheriff's deputies maintained the closure through the morning as the work continued.
Authorities have released only limited additional details while the investigation unfolds, according to ABC7 Chicago.
Why are these collisions so deadly?
Head-on crashes on undivided two-lane roads like this stretch of Route 173 are often catastrophic. When vehicles traveling in opposite directions collide, their speeds combine, creating an extremely high closing speed that can turn even a brief lane departure into a fatal event.
Transportation safety research has long flagged lane departures and undivided rural highways as major risk factors in deadly wrecks. As part of standard procedure, crash investigators review vehicle data, witness statements, and the condition of the drivers involved while they work to piece together what happened, according to The National Academies Press.
The Lake County Sheriff's Office Technical Crash Investigations Team continues to investigate what caused the Acura to cross into oncoming traffic.
