Four Injured in Truck Accident on Route 316 in Coles County, IL
Coles County, IL — June 10, 2022, four people were injured when a car and a semi-truck collided on Route 316 in Coles County.
According to reports the incident happened around 3:15 p.m. at the intersection of Route 316 and North Loxa Road, between Charleston and Mattoon.
Preliminary investigation suggests a passenger vehicle pulled onto the highway into the path of an oncoming semi-truck and the two collided.
An adult woman, a teenage girl, and a juvenile boy in the car were taken to a Champaign hospital for treatment of unspecified injuries. The truck driver was taken to a Mattoon hospital.
No further information is available at this time.
Commentary on Truck Accident on Route 316 in Coles County
I often mention the importance of keeping an open mind after a crash, no matter how straightforward early reports may seem. Some roll their eyes at that, but I've seen those reports overlook or omit crucial details many times. A second look from independent experts sometimes confirms what police first said, but we've also had plenty of cases where their superior training and equipment turned up crucial information that law enforcement missed--things that completely changed how a crash was perceived.
In a similar recent case, for example, police said a driver turned in front of an 18-wheeler seemingly without cause. Her frustrated family didn't accept that and asked us to look again. Our investigators found some unusual factors were involved in that crash: There was a dense fog in the area at the time, the truck was traveling much too fast for conditions, and the truck's headlights might have been malfunctioning. All that put together is a recipe for dangerously-reduced visibility, which could easily have caused the accident. Even from just our earliest findings it was clear that the situation wasn't as simple as police suggested.
I'm not saying bad weather or questionable truck parts are responsible for the crash in Illinois, but to my knowledge they and other possible contributors haven't been considered. It's always important to look at the whole picture instead of reaching a conclusion and then refusing to budge. With that in mind the victims' loved ones may be better served by independent investigations to determine the whole truth of the matter.
