Illinois — News reports from both Illinois and Missouri said that there was an accident on the McKinley Bridge this Wednesday morning (January 28, 2015) that involved a tanker truck and a car. The McKinley Bridge goes over the Mississippi River and the border from Illinois to St. Louis, MO.
The accident happened around 2:00 a.m. today, on the Illinois side of the McKinley Bridge. Not many details are being released right now, but it appears that a car and a tanker truck collided along the bridge, causing the smaller car to spin out of control.
The car was forced into the side guardrail of the bridge and came to a stop in the middle of the road. The tanker truck driver wasn’t harmed by the impact, but the car’s driver had to be airlifted to a nearby hospital to be treated for his injuries, which were said to be very serious.
As of Wednesday afternoon, there hasn’t been any update as to what happened, but the police noted that the car was headed east at the time of the accident when it was hit on the passenger side by the tanker truck.
Map of McKinley Bridge
View from the Bridge
Commentary:
Unless this car on the bridge had spun out of control and went into oncoming traffic, the only way to get hit on the passenger side of your vehicle while eastbound is if both vehicles are going the same direction. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever driven on a bridge like the McKinley before, but they can feel claustrophobic at times. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that one of these drivers had gotten nervous and served into the other lane. Not that that’s the only explanation, but it’s something worth thinking about. I don’t like how news reports always imply that the victim was at fault when it could be that they just don’t have enough information to make a well-informed comment yet.
— Grossman Law Offices
