Scary, if an airbag were to go off, one of those sticks could end-up poking his eye out. No kidding.

Now that was what the driver said and I guess we have to take his word for it. Yet if he was that far off the road with a BIG heavy truck I would think it would get stuck as to the soft ground.IMO Again my prayers for this lady

I think I’ll make a suggestion to the state that we equip all our highway workers with paint ball guns so we may mark all the stupid drivers out there as a public service so that all other drivers are warned by the markings on there vehicles.

I know lets try this, every time we need to do minor maintenance like picking up trash, fixing pot holes on the shoulder or stuff like that we will shut down the whole lane of traffic. Deploy a crew with all the signing arrow boards, crash trucks, cones. Within 30 min I90 will be backed up miles. We will start this on a Friday or a holiday weekend. To pay for this we will double everyone registration fees and hire the manpower to accomplish this. Plain and simple people follow to close, drive way to fast and are consistently distracting themselves with everything under the sun but the task at hand. “DRIVING.” The law is defined as follows. When an emergence or maintenance vehicle is parked on the shoulder of the road motorist shall merge over or SLOW DOWN. Rarely do I see this people have no one next to them and still won’t move over. I guess it to much work to look in the mirror flip on a blinker and pull the wheel a little to the left.

hannah, no I didn't see him. I saw your post. But I can't remember if you said he was using chop sticks.

hannah, I remember that multi-tasking driver. He was a chinese guy eating chinese food, wasn't he?

It was an accident.

ac⋅ci⋅dent   /ˈæksɪdənt/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ak-si-duhnt]
–noun 1. an undesirable or unfortunate happening that occurs unintentionally and usually results in harm, injury, damage, or loss; casualty; mishap: automobile accidents.

The experience of several fatalities of highway workers, state patrolmen, and good samaritans in Illinois seems to indicate that pulled-over vehicles seem to psychologically attract inattentive drivers. The Illinois Tollway, at least, has begun using following light vehicles equipped with big orange flashing arrows as well as enormous safety bumpers.
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No, there is no excuse for this kind of driving, but ultimately worker and public safety is more important. The inattentive drivers still crash, and are subject to charges, but this time without as much risk of killing themselves or someone else.

Just took the eggs I was going to eat for breakfast and wiped them on my face..lol..Thanks Hannah for setting me straight.. Sure glad it wasnt Localboy or Joker that called me out! lol

I am laughing so har at myself thinking "how can all these fools blame the driver"? lol... I misread, dont know how but I did!!

It's weird reading all these comments 'cause The truck driver is my uncle.

ooops my mistake and apology to all!! I thought it was partially in the lane! Sorry folks-my bad..Have had too much coffee!

I agree with sandman 100%

Sandman: "whatever this female driver was doing," and Localboy: "Why is a 76 year old woman driving on the Interstate"...any idea why you two added the words "female" and "woman" to make your statements seem important? Let me guess...you're both men who think that only men can drive well. Hmm...let me think about that a moment. Let's see, yeah, I think it was a male driver (about three summers ago), in a government vehicle, who crossed the interstate median (in broad daylight, perfect weather) and killed a local Milton woman, leaving behind two young daughters(I wonder if these two girls will be forever prejudiced against "male" drivers). Almost exactly a year later, an Illinois driver was killed when a man driving his family in his van also crossed the interstate median (also perfect weather) and struck the other person's truck (I was in the traffic caught behind these two horrible accidents). If I had the time and the space, I'd continue to point out accidents where men were at fault. I drive the interstate everyday and guess who I see driving the stupidest on it... I will agree there are some horrible female drivers out there, but there are also some horrible male drivers out there. Let's classify them properly: horrible drivers.

Fog- lame comment.. Get real, do you think THIS particular accident would have happened if the truck had not been parked out in any part of the lane?? I doubt it.. Like I stated- yes people need to be careful, yet our highway workers etc. need to be even more precautious in the safety measures they take.. Trust me, if it was your loved one you would be screaming the same..Flashing arrow or not. If this truck needed to be in the lane then the lane should have been closed down.

What about "fog". Was FOG a part of this ???

76 too old to drive the interstate? Not my dad. He's on the road this week. I drive with him often enough to know he's still capable. I have no problem telling him when I think he's ready to hang up the keys.

I agree that drivers need to be more aware, however it is a very busy interstate..All precautions and measures should be taken when people are traveling 60-75 mph, and any sort of "highway" work is being done.. There could have been alot more variables here, yet I still feel that every precaution should be taken..

the article said that the big yellow flashing arrow was on. How can you miss that ?

I think IMO -that the highway trucks should be COMPLETELY parked off the road for picking up debris.. Otherwise there should be cones and a sign moving traffic down to one lane-well in advance, as if the LANE is being worked on.. I bet this tragic accident would not have occured had the truck not been in any way- into the lane.

Blaming the truck for any part of this accident is completely missing the mark. It was off the driving surface far enough that it shouldn't have been a problem. If you come across a vehicle on the side of the interstate proper technique is to move to the other lane if possible and if that's not possible to slow down. Things need to be done on the side of interstate highways, be it cleaning up debris or aiding a disabled vehicle or ticketing a speeder. It's impractical to "set up some sort of transport service". Drivers need to take responsibility for the safety of both themselves and the other drivers on the road. You sometimes pass cars in the other lane that are less than 2 or 3 feet from the lane line. On a two-lane highway they are even going the other way. This is more dangerous than a car on the side of the road, should we outlaw two-lane highways?

Sandman... you said: "...well off the road"? The article says the truck was 24" to 36" off the driving lane. Next time you go to the grocery store take a look at how far apart the parked cars are and then consider that spacing for traveling 65 mph. I understand you feel you already know what safe distances are for working on the side of the highway so I suggest you review your highway safety hand book: http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/business/ru...

localboy- that is by far one of the top dumbest remarks I have ever seen.. Are you saying that all 76 year old people are not capable of driving on an interstate? LOL WE have 16- 18- 25- 35yr. olds that shoulnt be driving on any road..Age does always define human error you fool. Hope the lady is going to be ok, what a terrible accident.

you may think mrsjoe is sick for saying that but how many women have you seen doing just what mrsjoe said. you see it everyday.

Why is a 76 year old woman driving on the Interstate?

I truly hope this lady recovers from this terrible crash. As I understand it, the fire dept needed to cut the roof of her car off to get to her. Also, while that was a unarguably lame attempt at humor by mrsjoe, some of you really need to give the sanctimoniousness a rest.

Are you guys kidding? You want to blame the maintenance truck for parking well off the road and the driver for doing his job? Whatever this female driver was doing, she certainly was not driving safely! Perhaps someone will be blamed on McDonald's coffee, a roadside electronic billboard, or ... whatever. Sad? You bet -- glad it's not my mom (who really shouldn't be driving on the interstate either)! But please, save all these acclamations of prayers for church -- keep your mind on the road -- and let other people express themselves without trying to "suggest removal" of everything that doesn't fit in with your expectation of treacley lactations. I feel bad for both the female driver and for the guy who was out there doing a thankless job, and while I hope we ALL "get better," I seriously doubt that to be very likely -- it's a slippery slope! Anyway, when I pass on, I hope to go like my grandfather did, quietly in his sleep, not screaming and fidgeting like the people riding in his car.

First of all, MRSJOE...is only looking to offend all of us, and he/she just got a kick out of everyone getting miffed. Those types of comments just need to be ignored. Next, I need to say I am so sorry to this woman and her family, and my prayers have been sent that she has a full recovery. Third. I absolutely disagree with ANY vehicle parked along side the interstate unless it is strictly for construction purposes and properly warned. This happens way too often, and if garbage needs to be picked up, which I agree it does, there should be some sort of transport service for the individuals picking up trash, and not vehicles scattered along a very busy high speed highway. It is unsafe for drivers along with the people parked along the road.

mrsjoe: Do you really think your comment was funny? I hope nobody hits the Suggest Removal button so everyone else who visits this blog can see just how pathetic your comment is.

Hey mrsJoe - I don't know the lady that was seriously injured, but I do know that she is probably a mother and grandmother for someone. Think before you post remarks that are crude and rude like this.

my prays are with the family and the laid i hope that she ok. mrsjoy grow up if that was you mom or someone you loved and we all where on here write stuff like that you would be very pissed off so keep in mind how that family feels.

my prayers also with family and lady I hope she recovers. And yes mrsjoe that was sick and uncalled for. Someday you might have someone close injured and how would you like such a comment made about them. It amazes me as to the ignorance and cold heartless people who post here. It also amazes that they can actually read.

boy you sure are one sick person mrsjoe........Prayers to the lady in the accident and her family

Maybe she was sending text messages while putting on her makeup as her little dog sat on her lap.

My prayers are with this seventy-six year old woman and her family.