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PALMYRA – No matter how many times she hears an accident outside the front door of her Route 2 store, Val Sprague never gets used to it.
Tuesday was no exception.
“First I hear the brakes squealing,” said Sprague, who owns the Ell Hill General Store. “Then I hear the crunch. And then I start shaking.”
Ell Hill, the intersection of Routes 2 and 152, has been judged by the state Department of Transportation as one of the most accident-prone intersections in the state, and DOT spokesman Herb Thompson confirmed Tuesday that it is slated for a major overhaul – within the next two years.
The intersection has been the site of four fatal accidents in the past seven years and 14 non-fatal accidents in the past five years, according to DOT statistics.
It was the scene of yet another serious crash about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Annie Pederson, 36, of Hartland had stopped at the stop sign on Route 152, heading toward Pittsfield, then proceeded directly into the path of a westbound, fully loaded pulp truck, according to witnesses and Maine State Police Trooper Christopher Carr.
The truck had very little damage but crushed Pederson’s 2003 Dodge Intrepid, which was pushed across Route 2 into a deep ditch on the opposite side. The truck hit the car directly in the center of the driver’s side door. Pederson was wearing her seat belt and the car’s air bags deployed, Carr said.
Pederson, who remained conscious throughout, was trapped inside for about 45 minutes as Pittsfield Fire Department members used a Jaws of Life extrication device to remove a door. She was taken by Sebasticook Valley Ambulance to a nearby field.
LifeFlight Air Ambulance, which has landed in the same field three times in less than a year, flew her to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor for treatment of multiple injuries, Carr said.
The truck driver, Randel White, 48, of Corinth, was uninjured and will not be charged with any offense, Carr said. He was driving a 1988 Kenworth owned by Randall Madden Trucking of Milford.
Carr was assisted at the scene by Somerset County Deputy Michael Knight, Pittsfield police Officer Rodney Minoty and other troopers, including a state police accident reconstruction team.
Sprague said it can seem that familiarity is a reason for so many Ell Hill crashes. Nearly all those who fail to stop or pull out in front of approaching vehicles are from the immediate area.
“They just don’t stop,” Sprague said. “They come through that intersection without stopping all the time. I cannot count the near-misses I’ve witnessed.”
In just one week in 2002, one person was killed and seven hospitalized from crashes at Ell Hill.
The tally has raised red flags within DOT, said Thompson, who listed the intersection as “a high priority location that is of some concern to us.”
The last three fatal accidents involved drivers who drove off Route 152, directly into the path of vehicles driving on Route 2, such as occurred Tuesday. In all those cases, witnesses said the offending vehicles stopped at the stop sign, then continued into the intersection. DOT statistics bear that out, Thompson said.
About 20 years ago, DOT dropped the height of the road coming from Pittsfield to Palmyra to help reduce the accident numbers. It didn’t work.
DOT has also installed flashing overhead lights, flashing warning lights on Route 2, stop signs on Route 152 and warnings painted in the roadway.
Thompson said accident statistics have continued to rise and DOT has planned a safety project for the area.
Within the next two years, DOT has earmarked $105,000 to widen Route 152 on both sides of Route 2, install islands and new stop signs and provide the stop signs with flashing red lights.
“We have made attempts in the past to address this. Now we need to take this to the next level,” Thompson said.
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