A second traffic fatality on the Autumnal Equinox has officials in east-central Wisconsin putting at least partial blame on a glaring sun.
The incident, brought to light last Friday by the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office, happened just before sunset Thursday evening. A 48-year-old St. Nazianz man was westbound on Manitowoc County Highway “C” near Rangeline Road in the Township of Liberty when his vehicle collided with a semi-tanker unit that was parked partially in the westbound lane of traffic. The semi operator had deployed warning devices in the roadway ahead of the scene and the truck’s hazard lights were activated, however the setting sun was almost directly in the line-of-sight at that time. Investigators believe that blinded the driver of the SUV who died at the scene in the collision.
Neither the 23-year-old Francis Creek man operating the semi-tanker, owned by Right Way Applications LLC, nor his 23-year-old female passenger from Valders were injured.
The accident was the second area fatality blamed upon the sun on Thursday. The other was about 30 miles to the northwest when the rising sun blinded a 16-year-old eastbound driver who struck and killed a bicyclist near Harrison. Law enforcement is urging caution near sunrise and sunset due to the alignment of the sun close to the equinox.
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