Wrong Way Driver on Tri State Kills Two

Two motorists were killed early Sunday when a vehicle traveling the wrong direction on the Tri-State Tollway struck another head-on near south suburban East Hazel Crest.

The two-vehicle crash happened about 3 a.m. on the Tri-State Tollway (I-80/294) when a vehicle traveling south in the northbound lanes collided head-on with a southbound vehicle, according to Illinois State Police Tollway District.
 
The 2010 Ford Fusion car and 1997 Oldsmobile Bravada sport-utility vehicle collided near mile marker 4 ¾ -- not far from the Indiana State line, Illinois State Police Tollway District Master Sgt. Tim Zych said.
 
A witness told State Police the vehicle going the wrong way was traveling at a high rate of speed at the time of the crash, Zych said.
 
The driver headed in the wrong direction was apparently traveling about 90 miles per hour at the time of the crash, sources said.
The man driving the correct direction was dead on the scene, State Police said.
 
The other motorist, also a man, was initially taken to Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest, State Police said. He was later pronounced dead, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
 
The identities of the men killed were withheld Sunday morning pending family notification, but one was 35 years old while the other was 23, the medical examiner’s office said. Autopsies are scheduled for Monday.
 
Nobody else was in the vehicles and nobody else was injured. It was not immediately known if alcohol or drugs were a factor.
State Police are investigating.
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