News Democrat recently reported that a man was struck and killed on Friday when he was running across Interstate 270, just east of Illinois 157. According to an Illinois State Police spokesman, a car collided with a semi tractor-trailer at about 6:20am, causing minimal damage to both vehicles. The driver of the car proceeded to pull off the interstate onto the left shoulder while the driver of the semi pulled onto the right shoulder. The driver of the car then tried to check on the semi truck driver and ran across the interstate where he was struck by a pick-up truck.
The man was fatally injured and was pronounced dead at the scene by the Madison County Coroner’s Office. The police spokesman stated, “There’s a slight rise there in the road and it appears that he couldn’t see oncoming traffic.” He said the driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured and no citations would be issued in relation to the accident. Interstate traffic was reportedly diverted onto Illinois 157 for more than three hours after the accident.
Though it is not stated who was specifically the cause of either accident, an obvious factor that played a part in the death of the car driver was his decision to attempt to walk across the interstate. Pedestrian accidents on interstate highways are actually quite common; according to the Illinois Department of Transportation, more than ten percent of pedestrian fatalities occur on highways. The most common reason for pedestrians to be on the highway is when they find a need to walk across it, as seen in the above accident when the car driver walked across the interstate to check on the semi truck driver. Given the speed of other vehicles on the roadway, many motorists don’t even see these pedestrians until it is too late.