I was there in the line of cars which were backed up after the sad accident. My heart went out to any families involved after I found out what had happened from a trucker. I was in the left lane and many cars ahead and behind me drove through the median and sort of merged into the southbound lanes. Very dangerous in my opinion. They almost caused more accidents. It seemed like people were driving very fast that day and it was obvious that everyone slowed down after that on the way to Madison. I am still shaken by it. I have two kids about his age.

A sad event and one where it sounds like those at the scene helped in many ways - you are to be commended. SARAH is correct about the cables at this site and hopefully an expansion to most areas in WI. I know the cables are not always perfect, but usually can be quite helpful.

"thank goodness (i.e. GOD!)" always an interesting expression. if there was any divine intervention you would think it would be to have "goodness" intervened and avoided any accident to begin with. in reality, it is all a bad situation and fortunes dictated only one fatality.

Thank goodness he plowed into a semi, and not a van with a young family in it. The fatality number could be higher.

The car was smoking but not on fire. An off duty police luitenant used a passing truckers extinguisher to prevent it from becoming a fire. The trucker hit his head on the windshield, requiring stitches and may have had a concussion.

I was there. It was bad. I was behind the truck but in the left lane, I stopped on the shoulder when I saw the red car come across the median. I put a blanket over the driver of the car. I think I am still in shock. My heart breaks and my prayers go out to his poor family. I knew he looked young but twenty is still a kid.

The cable guards are a false sense of security for drivers. They have limitations as to what they will do. A year or two ago a young lady was killed north of Milwaukee when her car hit the cable guard at almost straight on and her car went under and hit the traffic on the other side.

My prayers go out to both families. I was near the scene shortly before it happened, and stuck in the long line. It is a tradgedy when someone so young is killed like this. I doubt either one expected this to happen. From my cab (yes I am a truck drivcer as well) I saw many of those who were in the traffic taking unecessary risks in crossing the median just because they are in a hurry. Please people slow down, pay attention, avoid the unecessary as whatever it is you have to do it is not worth risking your life for it, nor the lives of the people in your vehicle. One tragedy was more than enough there and Thank the Good Lord for answering my prayer that none of those who were in a rush created more mayham, To the family of each may God be with you during this time and may he heal you inner wounds and for the trucker may you have a speedy recovery. To the one with a brain here, you should be the highway engineer as cables may have saved that young man's life.

It would be interesting to know if placement of guard rails or cables (like they have north of Janesville on the same highway) would have kept this vehicle out of on-coming traffic.

I hope it's part of the plan when they add a third lane.

A shame that WisDOT has been unable to extend the median cable barriers present elsewhere on I-39/90 to this stretch.

If the cable barriers had been present, that accident would have been limited to the deceased's Avenger, as the barriers would have prevented him from crossing into opposing traffic. He would have likely survived.

Very sad. Hope the semi driver is not too seriously injured.
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Channel 3 has a photo:
http://www.channel3000.com/scanner/featu...
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It's the view from the Racine St. overpass and we saw pretty much exactly that after getting caught in the mess on 140. They had diverted northbound traffic, but as you can see in the photo southbound traffic was backed up from the accident site.

How sad! We heard this on the scanner and they said the car went underneath the semi and was on fire, but someone was able to put it out. However, the driver was pinned and it didn't sound too promising at that time. My prayers go out to all involved.