Three semitractor-trailers, sports car collide on interstate in rural southern Illinois
Four people were injured Tuesday in a collision involving three semitractor-trailers and a sports car on Interstate 57 in southern Illinois.
The accident happened as three of the vehicles were slowing down for an accident about a mile ahead and a semitractor-trailer behind them failed to reduce speed and struck the rear of the car, according to a release from the Illinois State Police.
The accident happened near milepost 124 on I-57 in Marion County at 11:09 a.m.
The driver of one of the semis, Kiane J. Bridgeforth, 41, of Memphis, Tennessee, and the driver of the Silver Subaru Brz car, Brandon M. Clifton, 45, of Nashua, New Hampshire, were flown to a regional hospital for treatment of their injuries, the release states. Also injured were Mircale N. Givson, 29, of Tennessee, a passenger in the Bridgeforth vehicle, and Shealy B. Clifton, 18, of Nashua, a passenger in the Clifton car. They were taken by ambulance to an area hospital, the release states.
Two other drivers and a passenger were not injured.
According to the state police preliminary investigation, the three semitractor-trailers and the car were traveling south in the right lane. The car and two of the semitractor-trailers, the release states, were “slowing due to a backup in traffic from a previous crash approximately one mile south of this location. Unit 1 (the Bridgeforth vehicle) failed to reduce speed while approaching the slowed traffic.”
The vehicle struck the rear of the sports car, pushing it off the roadway and into a ditch, the release states. The semitractor-trailer then struck the rear of another semitractor-trailer, pushing the trailer off the road and traveling underneath it. The second semitractor-trailer was pushed forward into the back of a third semitractor-trailer, the release states.
