Merrillville, IN — February 14, 2026, William Binkley was killed and another person was injured in an RV accident at about 5:15 p.m. on Interstate 65.
Authorities said a school bus that had been converted into a recreational vehicle crashed into a bridge support for the 73rd Street overpass after being involved in an accident with a pickup and an SUV. The RV was towing another vehicle at the time of the crash.
RV driver William Binkley, 60, of Waukegan, IL died in the crash, according to authorities, while a passenger was flown to a Chicago hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The SUV driver was not severely injured, authorities said.
The pickup driver was arrested after police noted signs of intoxication, according to authorities.
Authorities have not released any additional information about the Lake County crash at this time.
Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman
When people read about a crash like this on Interstate 65, the first questions that come to mind are simple: How did a vehicle end up hitting a bridge support? What set this chain of events in motion? And are we getting the full story about who caused it?
Right now, we know a converted school bus, being used as an RV, crashed into a bridge support after an accident involving a pickup and an SUV. The pickup driver was reportedly arrested for signs of intoxication. One person is dead, another seriously hurt. But the key issue is what actually caused the RV to lose control and strike that bridge pillar.
It’s not clear how the initial contact occurred. Did the pickup strike the RV first? Did the SUV make contact with either vehicle? We don’t yet know the sequence of impacts. That matters, because in multi-vehicle crashes, timing is everything.
If the pickup driver was impaired, that raises obvious concerns. But even then, important questions remain. Did the pickup rear-end the RV? Did it sideswipe it? Was the RV forced off the roadway while trying to avoid another vehicle? Each scenario points investigators in a different direction.
In a situation like this, the physical evidence becomes critical. Even though this wasn’t an 18-wheeler, many of the same investigative tools apply. Modern vehicles often contain engine control modules, the “black box” that captures speed, braking and steering inputs in the moments before a crash. That data can show whether the RV driver tried to brake or swerve before hitting the bridge support. It can also show whether the pickup accelerated into the collision.
Cell phone records may also matter. We don’t know whether distraction played a role for any driver. If someone was texting or on a call at 5:15 p.m., that could help explain delayed reactions or sudden lane changes.
Another major unanswered question is positioning. Where in the roadway did this begin? Was traffic slowing? Was someone attempting a lane change? Depending on whether the RV was struck from behind or pushed sideways, very different liability questions arise.
In my experience handling complex vehicle crashes, the public often assumes the driver who ends up hitting a fixed object is automatically at fault. But that’s not always how it works. I’ve seen cases where a driver who appeared to “lose control” was actually reacting to someone else’s unsafe conduct moments earlier. The vehicle that makes the final impact isn’t always the vehicle that caused the crisis.
There’s also the question of road design and barriers. Bridge supports on interstate highways are typically shielded by guardrails or impact attenuators. It’s not clear whether any protective barrier was present here, or whether the RV passed through one. That detail could matter in understanding how severe the impact became.
At this stage, we simply don’t have enough information. The arrest for suspected intoxication is significant, but it does not answer the full chain-of-causation question. A thorough investigation would examine vehicle damage patterns, download event data, analyze skid marks, review dash cam footage (if available) and reconstruct the sequence step by step.
Crashes like this are rarely explained by a single sentence in a news release. The only way to determine who is truly responsible is to let the evidence tell the story.
Key Takeaways
- It’s not yet clear how the initial collision between the RV, pickup and SUV unfolded or which vehicle triggered the chain reaction.
- An arrest for suspected intoxication raises serious concerns, but it does not by itself explain the full sequence of events.
- Vehicle black box data, cell phone records and damage analysis will be critical to understanding what happened.
- In multi-vehicle crashes, the driver who makes the final impact is not always the one who caused the emergency.
- A complete investigation — focused on evidence, not assumptions — is the only way to determine true accountability.
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