Palmyra crossing site of another crash 4 injured in 2-car collision at dangerous Ell Hill intersection

PALMYRA – On Tuesday Somerset County Deputy Michael Knight completed paperwork on a June 16 fatal crash at the intersection of Routes 2 and 152 when he was called back to the location to investigate a serious two-car collision.

Rescue personnel, ambulance attendants and firefighters at the scene looked at each other and shook their heads in an unspoken comment: Here we are again.

This time, two vehicles collided in the intersection at Ell Hill, sending one spinning wildly across the road and tipping the other on its side hundreds of feet from the point of impact.

Four people were transported by ambulance to Sebasticook Valley Hospital for treatment of a variety of injuries.

Andrea Smith, 31, of Rome and her passenger, Alicia Lancaster, 54, of Pittsfield, were both injured and taken to the Pittsfield hospital.

A Fairfield couple, William Gilbert, 68, and his wife, Alice Gilbert, 77, were trapped inside their van, which was on its side, for nearly an hour as firefighters used hydraulic equipment to extricate them.

Palmyra Fire Chief Donald Chute backed his own pickup truck up against the van to prevent it from falling over.

Maine State Trooper William Chandler said William Gilbert was transferred for further treatment to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor while all the other victims remained at the Pittsfield hospital.

Chandler said the Gilbert van was headed south on Route 152 toward Pittsfield and drove into the path of the 1993 Pontiac Grand Am operated by Smith. Smith’s car was headed west on Route 2. Chandler said it is still unclear if Gilbert stopped at the stop sign.

“The accident remains under investigation, and it is unknown if there will be any charges filed,” Chandler said.

Two weeks ago, Charles Perry, 37, of Troy, was killed, and three people in a second vehicle were injured 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 Knight.

It was the third fatality in less than four years at the crossroad. More than a dozen serious accidents have happened at the site during that time.

From 1998 to 2000, 11 accidents involving 16 injuries occurred at the intersection, according to the Maine Department of Transportation. The figures do not take into account the last three fatalities or the seven people injured in the past two weeks.

According to state accident figures, a motorist is three times more likely to have an accident at that intersection than at any other intersection in the state.

DOT officials, who have repeatedly reassessed the intersection, have pointed out that most accidents at the intersection, like the crash that killed Perry and the one Tuesday afternoon, are caused by driver inattention and 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 another vehicle is in the intersection.

Nearly every accident at the location is caused by one of the drivers neglecting to stop at a stop sign, a statistic backed up by DOT figures.

Palmyra Selectman Dan Sprague showed up at the accident Tuesday and said he had lived in town for 40 years and he still remembers the first deadly crash he witnessed at the four corners when he was six years old.

“DOT took down the top of the hill [on Route 152] coming from Pittsfield about 20 years ago, and they said that was supposed to fix things, but as we can all see, it sure didn’t,” said Sprague. “I don’t know what the answer is.”

At Tuesday’s accident, Chapman was assisted by Knight, Chute, Pittsfield Sgt. Timothy Roussin and Maine State Troopers Peter Hardwick and John Wilson. Firefighters from Pittsfield, Hartland, St. Albans and Newport responded and ambulances from Hartland and St. Albans and SVH transported the injured.