A 30-year-old woman is in critical condition after the SUV she was driving veered off the road and slammed into a light post on Chicago's Northwest Side early Saturday. The crash happened just before 3:15 a.m. in the 4600 block of West Irving Park Road, in the Old Irving Park neighborhood, police said.
The woman had been driving a red SUV eastbound when it left the roadway and struck the pole, according to ABC7 Chicago. She was the only person in the vehicle and was rushed to Illinois Masonic Hospital, where she was listed in critical condition.
No Other Injuries, No Citations Issued So Far
Police reported no other injuries stemming from the crash, and as of the station's report, no citations were pending. Authorities did not immediately release any additional information about what led the SUV to leave the road.
Under the city's own crash-reporting rules, that is not necessarily the last word on the incident. The City of Chicago's traffic-crash data portal notes that if new or updated information comes in later, the reporting officer can amend the crash report after the fact.
A Stretch of Road With a Troubled History
Saturday's wreck adds to a string of serious crashes along Irving Park Road in recent memory. In one earlier incident reported by CBS News Chicago, two cars were wrecked and two people were hurt after a 34-year-old woman driving a light-colored Kia sedan west on Irving Park Road near Christiana Avenue was involved in a crash that left her in critical condition at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
That same crash, in the 3300 block of West Irving Park Road, was detailed further by WGN-TV, which reported that the Kia struck a tree and a Volkswagen struck a building, with the Kia's 34-year-old driver transported to Masonic in critical condition, according to WGN-TV. The corridor has also seen tragedy on foot: the Chicago Sun-Times reported that 25-year-old Sarah Milcarek was fatally struck while walking between two parked cars in the 1400 block of Irving Park Road in Lake View, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
No further details have been released about Saturday's crash in Old Irving Park, including what caused the SUV to leave the roadway or whether the woman's condition has since changed.
