With no guardrails along a section of Iroquois County Highway 10 that passes through Bayles Lake, two vehicles have crashed and went into the lake in a one-year period, with one accident claiming the driver’s life. The December 2023 drowning death of Bayles Lake resident Stevie A. Chapman did not lead to any safety improvements along the dangerous stretch of road, but Loda resident Amanda Loveless, whose teenage daughter escaped serious injury in a crash into the lake last month, is now leading a renewed charge in asking the Iroquois County Highway Department to take action to prevent further tragedies. Will Brumleve/Ford County Chronicle
BAYLES LAKE — No longer does Elaine Ann Carman-Loveless, a Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School senior, drive through Bayles Lake using Iroquois County Highway 10 on her way to and from work.
Not after the scary crash she experienced in mid-December along that treacherous stretch of two-lane highway, where her vehicle spun out of control on black ice, then bounced off of a guardrail and flipped, skidding unobstructed into the lake’s frigid waters.
The Loda teenager escaped the Dec. 20 crash on County Highway 10, which is also Iroquois County Road 200 North and is commonly called Bayles Lake Road, with no serious physical injuries — only some “bumps and scrapes,” according to her mother, Amanda Loveless — but is still coping with the trauma of the experience. Avoiding County Highway 10 is a necessary — even if inconvenient — part of it.
“She’s doing well, but the mental impact has really caused a struggle for her,” said her mother. “Essentially, the post-traumatic stress of it all.”
Elaine Ann Carman-Loveless’ 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe is partially submerged in Bayles Lake on Friday, Dec. 20, after crashing on Iroquois County Highway 10 (County Road 200 North).
Even before the accident, Loveless had been worried about her daughter using County Highway 10 as her route between their home in Loda and her daughter’s work at nearby Power Planter Inc. Almost exactly a year earlier, one of Loveless’ friends — 68–yearold Bayles Lake resident Stevie A. Chapman — drowned after crashing his vehicle into the lake at the same location.
Sacramento, Calif., resident Steven Meeks, a passerby who tried to save Mr. Chapman, said after the Dec. 16, 2023, accident that he hoped the tragedy would “be the catalyst that sparks change.” Meeks urged for the installation of guardrails along the north and south sides of County Highway 10 where it bisects the lake, yet nothing was ever done.
Loveless is now leading a renewed charge for change. Like Meeks did a year ago, Loveless recently went to social media to voice her concerns and encourage others to join her in urging the Iroquois County Highway Department to consider installing guardrails along the county highway at the lake where they are lacking.
Elaine Ann Carman-Loveless and her mother, Amanda Loveless, pose for a selfie. Photos courtesy of Amanda Loveless of Loda
“The (highway’s) guardrails end before the edge of the lakes, offering no protection for vehicles sliding on ice or losing control,” Loveless said in a recent Facebook post. “The current conditions make it a deadly stretch of road during any hazardous conditions. Elaine Ann and I do not want anyone else to experience the traumatic event that could have taken her life, and we are asking for your help!”
Loveless encouraged residents in support of her proposal to contact Iroquois County Highway Engineer Alan Harwood to share their concerns and request the topic be placed on the agenda for the next meeting of the county board’s transportation and highway committee at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 8, in Watseka.
“That stretch of road is really hazardous,” Loveless said. “It claimed a life, and then, just literally one year later, it could’ve claimed a second life — and that’s just a little too much.”
Divers, paramedics and firefighters are seen at Bayles Lake around 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023, after a Jeep drove into the water on the north side of Iroquois County Road 200 North. The driver and only occupant of the submerged Jeep — identified as 68–year-old Bayles Lake resident Stevie A. Chapman — was later pronounced dead at Gibson Area Hospital in Gibson City, despite efforts at the scene to save his life. An autopsy determined the cause of death was drowning, Ford County Coroner Brandon Roderick said in January 2024. Will Brumleve/Ford County Chronicle
Harwood told the Ford County Chronicle last week that he would be open to considering the guardrail proposal and potentially pursuing federal or state funding to cover the project’s cost, which he estimated could be around $100,000.
“It’ll be looked into if proposed,” Harwood said. “I don’t have (the project) in the (highway department’s) budget right now … so it’s probably going to be something that we would apply to (fund) through some kind of safety grant … that we could get out there. … There are safety (grants) that you could apply for, I believe, for guardrails.”
Alternatively, the Bayles Lake Homeowners Association could take on the guardrail project itself, Harwood noted.
“I believe they could do it on their own and get the work done by permit,” Harwood said, “or it could also be something that the county could apply for and maybe get some kind of safety money or something else done for it.”
Emergency responders are at the scene of a crash on Iroquois County Highway 10 at Bayles Lake, where Elaine Ann Carman-Loveless’ 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe became partially submerged in the lake’s frigid waters on Friday, Dec. 20. Courtesy of Amanda Loveless
According to Harwood, after Mr. Chapman drowned in the lake in December 2023, former Iroquois County State’s Attorney Jim Devine said it was his opinion that the county is not legally responsible to protect drivers from hazards located off of county right-of-way — such as a lake.
Regardless, Loveless — and her daughter included — said the county can and should step up to try to do something.
“As a single mom, money has been an obstacle for 18, 19 years, and I’ve always made it work,” Loveless said. “So, as a county, I think we should be able to find some funding somewhere to make it happen.”
“I think guardrails are a really appropriate thing,” added her daughter, still traumatized from her accident.
Loveless said the accident happened around 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 20, when her daughter, driving her 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe east on County Road 200 North, hit black ice where the road begins its descent before crossing the lake. The sport-utility vehicle spun out of control, struck a guardrail and rolled, landing in the portion of the lake to the south of the highway.
Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School senior Elaine Ann Carman-Loveless’ 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe was totaled after a crash at Bayles Lake on Iroquois County Highway 10 on Friday, Dec. 20. The SUV became partially submerged in the lake’s waters, but she escaped. Courtesy of Amanda Loveless
Fortunately for Carman Loveless, she did not panic as she sat in the driver’s seat with water nearly up to her shoulders, still pouring in through the shattered driver’s seat window and elsewhere.
“I clicked the ‘SOS’ button (on the vehicle’s rearview mirror), which called my mom and also opened my (vehicle’s) back hatch,” she said, recalling how she was able to unbuckle her seat belt and “just crawl right through.”
Loveless said she is “so thankful” that her daughter — who plans to study nursing at Eastern Illinois University next fall — survived.
“I’m so thankful that such a horrific moment ended with such a miraculous ending,” Loveless said. “But there’s still a lot of trauma there for both of us, especially her. … Getting that phone call from my daughter, saying, ‘I’ve crashed my car, and I’m trapped and I’m stuck in Bayles Lake,’ was literally the most horrifying thing I’ve ever heard in life.”
Firefighters are at Bayles Lake around 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023, after a Jeep drove into the water on the north side of Iroquois County Road 200 North. The driver — 68–year-old Bayles Lake resident Stevie A. Chapman — died as a result of drowning, Ford County Coroner Brandon Roderick said. Will Brumleve/Ford County Chronicle
Carman-Loveless, who has replaced her totaled SUV, said she now avoids using County Highway 10 even though it is the fastest route to and from work. She had just left Power Planter, where she works a couple of mornings a week through PBL High School’s ICE program, when the crash — the first in her life — happened.
“The original drive was about 10 minutes, but now my new route takes me about 20,” said Carman-Loveless.
No matter what road she takes, driving comes with a lot of anxiety, she said.
“I can do pretty good if it’s a very clear, straight road — nothing unexpected,” she said. “The rain makes me really nervous … and I just kind of go into a panic and I can’t do it.”