Patty, the accident is no where never the car wash. The pictures are being taken from Brown's Chicken parking lot or driveway. Maybe fried chicken caused the heart attack but I don't think Brown's or Delta Sonic have any accountability in the crash. Driving a car is dangerous and people need to be careful at all times. Get well soon van driver

The van is resting against the signal box on the south east corner,,,far from the exit of the car wash! The car wash had no bearing on this accident!

Looks to me like it's right outside the car wash, on the north side of the street. Either way, it's a horrible tragedy and my thoughts and prayers go out to all involved.

You have no idea what the cause was, unless you were there. The article doesn't state that at all. I agree we all need to drive more carefully, some more than others, but you have no way of knowing that any of that was involved with this accident.

Harry, you did jump to a conclusion. If there was a medical issue, I hope everyone involved is OK. But you are right, I rack up 350 miles a week or so just driving to work and see what some people do. Whizzing by on the cell phone, cutting you off, and then giving you the evil eye or the bird cuz you're ONLY ten or fifteen over the limit. Don't know what caused this or the other events, but I'm sure that negligence was part of at least one. ivent/ butch will blame the banks or the government.

Kathy.I was talking in general about all these accidents happening with injuries and a possible death in a matter of such a short period of time in a close surrounding area,now I don't know were you got your info from,but I know for a fact the Tinley Park police were overwhelm by all these accidents besides the dispatcher getting enough manpower and rescue crews to the scenes,so before you start jumping on me,remember one thing most accidents like the ones that happen this morning are called accidents,but majority of the times they are caused by someones carelessness,so if you got some barking to do don't bark at me bark at the moon,because I didn't cause them.

Emma, the accident on 159st and Oak Park happen about a few minutes before 8;;00am,they had two accidents on I80 about LaGrange rd at about 7'40am and then they had one happen not to long after the one on 159& Oak Park on 183 & Harlem,it was a rash of accidents happening in a short period of time and hampering police and rescue efforts also investigating on how these accidents occurred.

Your wrong,probably your a big offender of what I said leads to many of them,yes you have exceptions,but the majority are due to carelessness,but you and others commenting are looking for excuses ,like I told one commentor go bark at the moon not me ,I didn't cause them,and you are probably the first one to sue if somebody came along a tapped your butt,then its not just a accident.

Danielle, what planet are you on? Have you not read or heard about cities, states, villages, etc banning cell phone use while driving. Accidents have causes...often human error. Ask any officer and he/she will tell you how often 'accidents' are caused by cell phones/texting or some other form of distracted driving!

Danielle, I agree with you. A lot of the accidents I've seen haven't involved cellphones, but people not leaving enough space (remember the 2 second rule???). Paying attention or not, when you are 1 car length behind someone going at 40mph you are not going to stop in time. Also the excessive speeding. I annoy a lot of people going the speed I do speed limit or at times up to 5mph over. No accidents caused by me. I've been a victim of 2 accidents. One person was in a hurry who was beating a red light. People need to slow down a lot and give that reaction space. My sister was hit by a driver who didn't pay attention to the fact it was a 3 way stop. Also the other accident my sister's parked car was involved in was a pure accident. Mechanical problem where the tie rod broke and the driver lost steering. Actually I've seen another accident on I-55 where this was the case. A lot of accidents I've seen are from people being in a hurry. Granted distracted driving is a cause for a good amount, but plain old being impatient and speeding is another big cause (also uses up gas faster in your cars).
Just for the record I've witnessed over 5 accidents, and been on the scene for probably 30-40 accidents. I'm one of the few people who stop to check up and help the people out and make sure emergency workers are called to the scene.
Also, Tinley Park had a fluke of a lot of accidents in one day, not your typical day. A great job for the personnel who responded!

Danielle: They teach you in driving class that people mistaking call a "car COLLISION" a "car accident." It is not an "accident" because it is caused by someone's carelessness or not driving for the conditions. So, maybe you should be the one getting all your facts straight before speaking. Look it up or visit the drivers education teacher at TPHS.

*mistakenly

I never said I was a perfect driver and do you know and others if the man that had the misfortune of a heart attack did he have it driving or after the accident,now do you want me to make a fool out of you and some others,Well do you???

The really funny thing is, I see police officers using the cellphone a lot and not causing accidents. State troopers, county sheriff officers, AND city police officers. Granted I do have to admit, especially with younger less experienced (younger) drivers have issues with cellphones because they are sitting there reading an entire text or getting emotional on a phone call with someone.
When I first started I was talking on the radio in the car, which has been used to call in a few of the accidents since this was before cellphones became what they are today (back when they were bricks and a fortune to buy).
BTW only 1 accident out of the many I've been involved with (over 30 accidents total) was a cellphone incident. That is only 3% from my sample. At least 4 of them were medically induced (cardiac arrest, stroke, seizure related). 1 was someone reaching down onto the floor for something that he dropped. Over 10, speeding were involved. At least 3 were running red lights or trying to beat the red light.
Distracted driving is on the rise mostly cause of the teenage drivers and the higher influx of them coming onto the road. Remember we have A LOT more drivers now than before meaning more opportunities for accidents.
I said everyone needs to slow down and give that zone for reactions to AVOID the accident. Be an assertive driver, not a aggressive driver.

And it is a fact proven by research that talking on a cell phone uses 40% of your brain alone. Imagine that. 40%, not to mention the additional that's being utilized just to concentrate on driving (paying attention to the road and surroundings) itself. And your brain targets the phone conversation before the driving. Most people unknowingly decrease their speed by 5-10mph while driving and talking on the phone and they do swerve. Again, all backed by research which I'm sure you can google.

The number one cause of accidents is cell phone use. Two is playing with the radio and third is eating (more stuff you can research). Before smartphones the number one was eating. It's fair to assume when statistics don't lie.

@Jane, are you using this webpage for your facts? http://www.nophonezonenv.com/facts.htm
If so read the actual quote "Brain power used while driving decreases by 40 percent when a driver listens to conversation or music. (Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie Mellon University study)". No where did it single out cellphone if that is your case. The passenger next to you is just as much to blame in this "fact". The brain becomes active when in a conversation. Actually I prefer talking to someone than falling asleep at the wheel when doing 2 hour drives which I do regularly. Also statistics don't lie as many people say but then selective sampling can skew statistics. Especially if you have someone who is a advocate of a cellphone ban. Like how about all those ads you see with 9 in 10 doctors suggest this product? How come my doctor refuses, and then another doctor I know. That is 2 in 2. Using statistics to prove a point can get very dicey. I've found myself to be more dangerous of a driver when by myself on long drives than talking on a phone cause I'm actually aware of my surroundings. Maybe I have a better understanding of paying attention to the road. This is a debate that goes on within the ranks of our lawmakers and they get fed these statistics.
As I mentioned before I'm a split on this. Personally I've seen less accidents involving cell phones than other issues. Maybe I'm just an outlier statistic. Same with me using the phone.

A true accident can't be avoided. Someone having a heart attack behind the wheel can't be avoided. Driving in bad weather can't be avoided etc etc. Yakking on a cell phone, drunk driving, reckless driving CAN be avoided. You make a pretty poor case,

Winter driving can be more reduced, or at least the severity of it with people who give more space and not drive recklessly for the conditions of the road. One example, done with college for the fall semester, heading home after finals it was a big snowstorm. Travelling from NIU in Dekalb to Oak Forest.
At the point I packed up the car and got onto the road, about 3-4 inches had fallen in DeKalb. I-88 was a mess not even plowed yet. I ended up being the lead car with a caravan of cars behind me. You'd swear I was blazing a trail because there were few tire tracks in front of me. Average speed of 15-25 mph depending on straightaways vs turns. Every once in a while a car comes driving by me going probably about 30-35, about a mile or 2 down the road I see the same car slid off the road on a turn. I think it was 3 or 4 cars total that did this.
The lesson of this true story is know the road, if you don't know how fast you can handle turns because of unsafe road conditions, slow down. It took me 4 hours to get home that night when it is normally 1.5 hours, 73 miles from parking lot to driveway. By the way, it was still heavy snow up until around Highland Ave (between I-355 and I-294) where it was switching over to rain/sleet.

Another accident on the way home weather related because someone didn't pay attention to the road was black ice. 4 car accident, a 5th flies by me on a bridge while not paying attention to my flashers, hits the 4 car accident, I get through unscathed going around all 5 cars on the 2 lanes because well I was going 5mph cause I KNEW of the black ice caused from freezing rain. I was actually on the phone just minutes before but when i started noticing freezing rain affecting the roads and I know bridges freeze over before roadways. This was in Lemont, I think it was 2004 or 2005 on Lemont Rd. right over the triple waterway heading southbound. Again, caused from driving too fast for conditions (as I drove through the added accident scene and made it through without any incident).
Weather related yes causes problems, but with the weather related, it still comes down to human decision to slow down for the conditions of the roadway.

And it sounds to me like your an idiot. Unless you were the driver or you were in the car with the driver than I really don't think you can know exactly what happened. How could you? Only the driver who suffered the heart attack or any passengers would know exactly what happened. And unless you were at every single accident (and how would that even be possible - how can you be at 3 different places at once, then you don't know what happened at all the accidents). And your right I am annoyed with you and all the other people who instantly think that cell phones are the cause of the accidents, not every accident is caused by a person using a cell phone, they can yes, but they are not always the cause and to rush to judgment on an accident is just wrong. You also misinterrpreted what I said about my husband, saying he is OF and TP fire department "personal" (your so smart you can't use the right word - it's personnel but whatever) implies he works for the city, but you would be wrong, and I never said he works for the city, I said he does work for those cities, which by mere coincidence was yesterday. I am not sure what that has to do with anything, he heard the cause directly from fire dept "personal", that was not speculation on his part, he merely relayed what he was told. Again noone can know exactly what happened other than the driver and/or passengers.

Just a note here. There is a difference between cardiac arrest and a heart attack. It could have been detected as a cardiac arrest on site. Also, EMS crews usually find out what the outcomes of the ER visit was, usually helps in continuing education as EMS is always changing.

Again. I do not take kindly to your judging my character or personality. What are you basing this off? Because I am standing up for something that I believe in, so that makes me a sicko? I know exactly what my comment said regarding what my husband said, I am not sure where the part that I am idiot comes along, because I relayed information that was given to him by the apporpriate "personal"? You're an ignorant moron. You're the one trying to get under peoples skin with your errroneous comments. I am still waiting for the part where you make a fool out of me and the rest of us who said the driver suffered a heart attack while driving, as well as your explanation as to how you could have known what happened at all 3 accidents yesterday. Hmmm, where are those at?

Of course driving under the speed limit for weather related reasons is an entirely different situation. The hazardous people that I am referring to are those that drive under the minimum speed limits on express ways and just in general. The people who drive under the speed limit on the roadways are more of a hazard to themselves then anything, but a hazard none the less.

Thank you Joe :) Name calling just lowers your reputation especially when you are trying to debate an argument.

Listen I made a comment on the rash of accidents that occurred on monday morning and having some knowledge of what had gone on,and blamed one distraction that drivers have and that was cell-phones,the other commentor was the one that got nasty,took one thing and added another,this isn't the first time, and others that add on things like misspelling and other wise cracks,I'm only defending myself now if you want to police go ahead thats your right,but lets be fair about it okay.Theres more than 2 people making comments on this story.But I will refrain from name calling.Thank You.

@Joe, Mr. Callahan seems to have his timeline wrong regarding who started the mudslinging as excerpted from his post at 9:31 pm last night after my original post: "Your wrong,probably your a big offender of what I said leads to many of them,yes you have exceptions,but the majority are due to carelessness,but you and others commenting are looking for excuses ,like I told one commentor go bark at the moon not me ,I didn't cause them,and you are probably the first one to sue if somebody came along a tapped your butt,then its not just a accident." At any rate, I apologize for the name calling, however when people attack my characted for expressing my opinion, which is all I did, I get a little angry, nonetheless, I digress, I was wrong to escalate to name calling, I am a better person than that.

NSC also says that hands free is unsafe. Well then if they decide to ban that, let's ban the kids in the backseat, the friend in the front of the car and music in the car. There has to be a compromise somewhere. I do a lot of public safety even while driving from the car. Casually talking to your friend next to you is just as dangerous because of the cognitive aspect of your conversation. As I said, statistics can and are driven to prove someone's point, especially if it is not a full population sample, and that partial sample can be manipulated.
How about this explanation. Cellphones have become more common and the statistic doesn't show that the cellphone WAS the cause, just INVOLVED. Cellphones are more readily available, especially to younger drivers since they have gotten cheaper and are used for safety, too. Then there is USAGE. For example, I may not even be using my smartphone, but it is constantly sending data back and forth to the servers. I get in an accident, prove I was using the cellphone or not at the time of the accident. Looking at cellphone records will just show the data going back and forth. Now if you want to monitor/sniff/packet trace that data, that goes into privacy laws and I can think of several groups that would raise arms about having their privacy violated.
As in the NSC's white paper intro, how do we know the driver would have noticed the red light if not on the cellphone (i.e. daydreaming).

don't do a spellcheck on others without spellchecking yourself first. you're = you are, not your are.

Lol Monica.

HAHAHAHAHA! OHHHH that is coincidence at its BEST! Now its even more comical. YOU and ARE.

I wasn't calling someone an idiot though. I mistyped....Harry just doesn't know the difference between your and you're. Which I normally wouldn't point out except it was in the sentence "Your an idiot." :-)

ohhhh funny. oops

Thank you Dave for backing up most of my thoughts. :-).

@Kellly:

Thank you for your update. How is your friend doing?

You can contact me at joev@patch.com if there's any information you would like to pass along or clear up but don't want to include in the comments section.

Thank you again for your comments.

Joe Vince
Local Editor, Tinley Park

Kelly, so sorry to hear of your friend's unfortunate incident while driving. This article lost focus of that fact, which it shouldn't have. Whether its right or wrong, incidents like this will continue to be a hot button topic because of the opposing sides and varying opinions. Your friends accident just happened to be the catalyst for this week, through no fault of their own.

AMEN!

ROFLMAO!!!

Harry....I LOVE that you are imagining me. I'm touched.