Notorious Palmyra crossroad takes another life

PALMYRA – The infamous El Hill intersection of Routes 2 and 152 in Palmyra claimed another life Saturday evening.

It was the third fatality in less than four years at the crossroad, which has been the site of more than a dozen serious accidents in that time.

Charles Perry, 37, of Troy was killed at about 5 p.m. when he failed to stop at a stop sign on Route 152 and drove into the path of a pickup truck traveling east on Route 2.

Perry was ejected upon impact, and his 1984 Chevrolet Chevette flipped over and landed on top of him. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt, according to Somerset County Deputy Michael Knight.

Three people were in the pickup truck: Craig Arno, 46, his wife, Jane Arno, 45, and their 15-year-old daughter, all of Palmyra. Knight said the only one wearing a seat belt was the juvenile, and both parents were injured.

The couple was taken by ambulance to Sebasticook Valley Hospital for treatment and released later that night, said the deputy.

The impact of the two vehicles was so severe that Perry’s front passenger door was imbedded in the bumper of the pickup truck, which ended up facing backward in the parking lot of a nearby convenience store. The rear window of the truck landed less than four feet from the store’s entrance.

Perry’s car also landed upside down in the parking lot with his body underneath. Bags of grain and chickens that Perry had been carrying in a crate in his vehicle were strewn about the scene. Most of the chickens also were killed.

Firefighters and bystanders lifted the car off Perry in an attempt to render aid, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Palmyra Fire Chief Don Chute said Saturday’s accident has renewed his efforts to seek changes at the intersection.

From 1998 to 2000, the intersection had 11 accidents involving 16 injuries. According to state accident figures, a motorist is three times more likely to have an accident at El Hill than at any other intersection in the state.

Maine Department of Transportation officials, who have looked at the intersection repeatedly, have pointed out that, like Saturday’s fatal crash, most accidents at El Hill are caused by driver inattention, not a lack of safety devices.

The crossroad has a flashing red signal, two stop signs on Route 152, painted warnings on the roadway itself and two flashing signal signs on Route 2, which warn drivers that another vehicle is in the intersection.

“[DOT] promised to take another look at this and they did nothing,” Chute said Saturday evening at the accident scene. “Maybe now that there has been another fatality, they’ll do something.”

DOT officials were unable to be reached over the weekend to comment on any study of the locale.

Last November, Dana Hanks, DOT division traffic engineer for Palmyra, admitted that the intersection was a problem and “a high accident location.”

DOT keeps a list of intersections that require review for safety factors. There are 563 junctions on that list; El Hill ranks 103rd, or in the top 20 percent.

DOT statistics show that it is driver inattention, not a lack of safety devices, however, that is to blame.

“Short of driving the cars for them, what can we do?” Hanks said last fall. “These accidents are being caused by driver error, either inattention or speed.”

He said at the time that the location does not have high enough traffic figures to warrant a stoplight on Route 2, and even if it did, such a change would likely increase rear-end collisions on the main highway.

Knight agreed. “There is no way you could have the Route 2 traffic stop. It would be too dangerous,” he said.

Knight, who has been the deputy responding to several of the more serious crashes at El Hill, agreed that driver inattention was to blame for the accidents. “For some reason, people just drive right through those stop signs,” he said.

Assisting Knight at the accident scene were Somerset County Deputies Paul York, James Tozier and Kent Stevens. The accident was reconstructed by Maine State Police Trooper Marc Poulin.