A 55-year-old woman was killed after investigators say she crashed head-on into another vehicle, causing a three-vehicle crash that left a second driver injured near Zion Friday morning.
The Newport Fire Protection District and Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded around 8:45 a.m. Friday to the area of Route 173 and Kilbourne Road in unincorporated Zion for a vehicle crash with injuries.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived and found three vehicles with heavy damage, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli.
A preliminary investigation showed a Nissan Altima, driven by a 55-year-old Burlington, Wisconsin woman, was traveling westbound on Route 173.
The Nissan was approximately a half-mile west of Kilbourne Road.
Covelli said the driver of the Nissan veered into the eastbound lanes of traffic for unknown reasons directly into the path of another vehicle.
The Nissan crashed head-on into an eastbound Hyundai Sonata, driven by a 62-year-old Arlington Heights man.
An eastbound Tesla Y, driven by a 27-year-old Chicago woman, attempted to avoid the collision, Covelli said.
The Tesla drove into an embankment on the side of the road, causing damage to the Tesla.
The driver of the Nissan, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was pronounced dead at the scene, Covelli said.
The driver of the Hyundai was transported to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville with minor injuries. The driver of the Tesla was uninjured.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office is scheduling an autopsy on the victim, whose identity is being withheld.
The crash remains under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Technical Crash Investigations Team.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article reported the deceased driver was 68 years old according to the sheriff’s office. The coroner’s office says the woman was actually 55 years old.