Route 126 Crash Victim Identified as Yorkville Man

Illinois State Police on Wednesday identified the man who died in a three-vehicle accident early Monday morning on Route 126 as Robert James Jr., 63, of Yorkville.

Chief Jon Stratton said James was driving east on Route 126 between County Line and Ridge roads shortly before 6 a.m. when his four-door Mercury crossed into the westbound lane, hitting a box truck.

State police said the driver of the truck attempted to avoid the Mercury but couldn’t, and wound up striking an eastbound Kia.

James was extricated and taken to Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

On Wednesday, state police said they still do not know what caused James to swerve into the oncoming lane, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

The truck driver and a passenger refused treatment following the crash, and the man driving the second vehicle was taken to Provena St. Joseph Medical Center in good condition, Stratton said.

The accident was the third fatal crash this summer on a roughly three-mile stretch of Route 126.

On June 4, three former students died when their at Route 126 and Schlapp Road near Oswego.

Plainfield residents Brian Herrera and Tyler Montgomery, both 19, were pronounced dead at the scene. Alexis Banuelos, 18, of Naperville was taken to Rush-Copley Medical Center, where she was also pronounced dead.

Just more than a month later, motorcyclist went a Dodge Durango SUV struck a smaller vehicle at westbound Route 126 and County Line Road.

The impact forced the car into the eastbound lane, where it struck Oswald, a 57-year-old member of Will County ABATE and the Warriors Watch Riders.

The family riding in the car — a mother, father, infant and toddler — were extricated from the vehicle and taken to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox.

The driver of the Durango, 24-year-old in the fatal July 14 crash.

A fourth accident ­ — this one non-fatal — occurred Tuesday just more than a mile from the site of Monday’s deadly crash. This time, one person was injured in a and two other vehicles at County Line and Renwick/Wheeler roads.

Despite the fatalities, Stratton said he doesn’t believe Route 126 is particularly dangerous, calling it a high-visibility roadway.

“People just aren’t paying attention,” Stratton told the Herald-News. “There’s nothing that’s a blind corner. I just think it’s people in a hurry.”

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