A two-vehicle crash involving a street sweeper and a sedan on Route 12 in Volo left a man in critical condition Tuesday afternoon, police said.
The Fox Lake Fire Department and Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday to Route 12 just south of Brandenburg Road in Volo for a report of a vehicle crash with injuries.
Lake County Sheriff Spokesman Sgt. Christopher Covelli said that a preliminary investigation shows a 2009 Chevrolet Aveo, driven by a 59-year-old Silver Lake, Wisconsin man, was traveling southbound on Route 12.
The Chevrolet Aveo was traveling in the inside lane. A Freightliner street sweeper, driven by a 43-year-old Elk Grove Village man, was also traveling southbound in the inside lane.
“The driver of the street sweeper was driving at a reduced speed, as he was conducting cleaning operations of the roadway. For an unknown reason, the driver of the Chevrolet drove directly into the rear of the street sweeper,” Covelli said.
The driver of the Chevrolet was critically injured in the crash and transported to Advocate Condell Hospital in Libertyville with life-threatening injuries. The driver of the street sweeper was uninjured.
Both directions of Route 12 were closed were closed for approximately 30 minutes following the crash. Police opened the northbound lanes but kept the southbound lanes closed for several hours while accident investigators responded to the scene.
The crash remains under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Technical Crash Investigations Unit.