Sixth crash this year where Pingree Grove wants to install traffic light
A woman and two young children avoided major injuries Tuesday in a crash at an intersection in Pingree Grove where the village has been waiting for state approval for a traffic light, officials said.
There have been six crashes this year at Richard J. Brown Boulevard and Route 72 near the entrance to the Cambridge Lakes subdivision, equal to the total number of crashes for 2018, police Lt. Chris Harris said.
The latest happened around 6:55 a.m. as the woman and her children - a 3-month-old and a 2-year-old - were in a vehicle driving east on Route 72 as a box truck approached heading west, Harris said.
"The truck made a left onto Richard J. Brown Boulevard cutting her off and caused her to divert her vehicle and crash into the Cambridge Lake fountain," Harris said.
The woman, a 23-year-old from Pingree Grove, and her children were treated and released at the scene, he said.
The truck driver, 67-year-old Salvador Guzman of Cicero, was cited for failure to yield turning left, Harris said.
The woman posted on a village Facebook site thanking the person who helped her family after the crash.
"The safest route to swerve was toward the fountain, because if I were to have swerved any other direction my two children would have been hit vs. me taking the impact head on," she wrote. "We all left the scene with only a bruise or two."
The post said the truck driver was in custody, which was not true, Harris said.
The post also said the truck driver fled the scene, but Guzman - whom police found at the Cambridge Lakes Community Center, where he was scheduled to do resurfacing work - said he didn't notice the crash, Harris said.
"I don't think he actually knew what happened," Harris said. "(The female driver) turned and he was already past it."
Pingree Grove budgeted $1 million last year for a traffic light at the intersection. The village has issued requests for proposals for the traffic light in anticipation of approval from the Illinois Department of Transportation, village Finance Director Karen Plaza said. The hope is to start construction this year.
IDOT spokesman Guy Tridgell said the agency received the first set of complete engineering plans July 1. "Plans are currently being reviewed," he said.
IDOT first approved plans in April 2018 for a three-way traffic light at the current T-intersection. The village submitted a revised application in December for a four-way traffic light. The plan is to extend Richard J. Brown Boulevard north of Route 72, where the Cambridge Lakes subdivision is building more houses.
"The village has taken it seriously and understands that with more people (moving to the area) there are going to be more incidents," Plaza said. "We we are working to do whatever we can to help prevent things."