JANESVILLE – U.S. Highway 14 north of Janesville was shut down for six hours Saturday following a fatal accident in which a motorist ran into a tractor that was pulling a large piece of farm machinery.
According to a release, Rock County sheriff’s deputies responded around 11:35 a.m. to a report of a two-vehicle crash with serious injuries on U.S. Highway 14 at the bridge over the Rock River in the town of Janesville. The Janesville Police Department and the Janesville Fire Department also responded.
An investigation showed that a vehicle driven by a 58-year-old man from Darlington was traveling eastbound across the bridge, while a farm tractor pulling a large planting drill, operated by a 63-year-old man from Janesville, was westbound crossing the bridge. As the two vehicles passed in opposite directions, the car struck the large farm implement that was being towed.
The driver of the eastbound vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene, and a 68-year-old female passenger in that vehicle was transported to the Mercy Hospital Trauma Center in Janesville with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the farm tractor was not injured.