EFFINGHAM, Ill. - Driving too slowly in the right lane of a busy interstate was what Illinois State Police are citing as the cause of a two-truck collision yesterday afternoon in Effingham County.
ISP reports that the accident occurred at 4:14 p.m. Tuesday, August 14, in the eastbound lane of Interstate 70 at milepost 100, east of the city limits of Effingham.
Preliminary investigative details indicate that a maroon Volvo truck-tractor being operated by Moges Befekadu, 38, of Tampa, Florida, was traveling below the minimum speed limit in the right lane of Interstate 70 at that location. A white Freightliner truck-tractor being operated by Jeremy Wilson, 41, of Yale, Illinois, struck the Volvo in the rear of the box trailer.
Befekadu was entrapped and had to be extricated from the vehicle. Working the wreck closed down I-70 for several hours. Both drivers were airlifted via helicopter to Carle Hospital in Champaign for treatment.