A 93-year-old Chicago man has died after a two-vehicle crash flipped one car onto its roof at a busy Mount Prospect intersection, closing the roadway for hours while investigators worked the scene. Gerald Meyer was pronounced dead at 4:35 p.m. at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, just one minute after police reopened the intersection they had shut down since late morning.
The crash happened around 10:05 a.m. at Northwest Highway and Mount Prospect Road, according to Mount Prospect police, as reported by the Daily Herald. Police said the collision caused one vehicle to roll over onto its roof, and that two vehicles were involved overall. Meyer was rushed to Advocate Lutheran General, where he was later pronounced dead, per the medical examiner's office.
Hours-Long Closure at a Border Intersection
Police closed the intersection from roughly 11:15 a.m. until 4:34 p.m. while they investigated the multi-vehicle crash, according to Arlington Heights Patch. That timeline means the roadway reopened to traffic mere moments before word came that Meyer had died at the hospital. The crash site itself sits directly on the border between Mount Prospect and Des Plaines and runs parallel to the Union Pacific Northwest Metra line, as noted by the Journal & Topics, underscoring how a single crash can snarl one of the area's busiest commuter corridors for the better part of a workday.
Fatal and serious crashes in Mount Prospect are typically handled by the police department's Major Crash Investigation Team, which can draw on the Major Case Assistance Team's STAR Team, a multi-jurisdictional unit pulling resources from 26 suburban agencies, according to village records. Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, where Meyer was taken, operates a Level I Trauma Center that serves as the leading emergency trauma facility for Chicago's northern and northwestern suburbs, per Advocate Health Care.
A Second Fatal Crash in Mount Prospect This Summer
Tuesday's death marks the second fatal traffic crash Mount Prospect police have investigated in less than two months. Hoodline previously reported on a fatal Rand Road crash that killed 20-year-old motorcyclist Scotty J. Stuck on June 20, who was also transported to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital before dying.
New State Law Raised the Testing Age Just Weeks Earlier
Meyer's death comes weeks after Illinois raised the age threshold for mandatory behind-the-wheel driving tests. The Road Safety and Fairness Act took effect July 1, 2026, raising the age at which senior drivers must pass an annual in-person driving test to renew their license from 79 to 87, according to Capitol News Illinois. Because Meyer was 93, he would have remained subject to that annual testing requirement under the new law. The same law also created a process letting immediate family members submit medical or cognitive reports directly to the Illinois Secretary of State's Office to request driver safety evaluations, the outlet reported.
State data cited in that same Capitol News Illinois report shows drivers 75 and older in Illinois had a crash rate of 24.61 per 1,000 drivers, the lowest of any age group in the state. But national data tells a different story about outcomes when older drivers are involved in crashes. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report using 2023 data found that 68% of traffic fatalities involving drivers 65 and older occurred in multi-vehicle collisions, and 70% happened during daytime hours. The same NHTSA report found that traffic fatality rates per 100,000 population peaked among people 80 and older, even though drivers 65 and up make up 22% of all licensed drivers nationwide.
It remains unclear what led to Tuesday's crash or which vehicle rolled over. Mount Prospect police have not released additional details about the cause of the collision or whether any citations have been issued.
