2 seriously hurt when wrong-way driver collides with car on Kennedy

(MCT) — Two people were critically injured when a wrong-way driver clipped a car and a tanker truck before slamming head on into another car early this morning on the Kennedy Expressway near Division Street, according to police.

The 25-year-old driver of the wrong-way car was unconscious at the scene and smelled of alcohol when she arrived at the hospital, according to Illinois State Police Sgt. Steven Tufenkjian.

The driver of the car that she hit head-on suffered fractures to her legs but was conscious when firefighters and police arrived, Tufenkjian said.

The wrong-way driver entered the Kennedy at Armitage, traveling inbound in the outbound lanes, the state police said. She collided with the car just south of North Avenue at about 4:20 a.m., Tufenkjian said.

Both drivers needed to be extricated from their cars. The wrong-way driver was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, and the other driver to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Both were transported in serious-to-critical condition, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Joe Roccasalva.

The car clipped by the wrong-way driver lost its rear-view mirror, and the driver called police after witnessing the collision moments later, police said.

Police closed all outbound lanes around Division Street but the right lane was opened at 4:50 a.m., Tufenkjian said. All lanes were opened by 5:10 a.m., he said.

Charges are pending against the wrong-way driver, Tufenkjian said.

The crash marks at least the fourth time this month that a driver headed the wrong way on an area expressway has caused an accident that resulted in serious injuries.