CRAWFORD – A man died instantly Sunday afternoon when the car he was driving struck a moose on Route 9 in eastern Washington County.

David Farris, 46, of Perry was killed when the moose ran into the road and collapsed on top of the windshield and roof of the car, according to Maine State Police Trooper Miles Carpenter.

“That section of road is very dark and the road was a little wet, so it looks like he didn’t have much visibility,” Carpenter said Wednesday.

The man’s wife and two young daughters were riding in the car, a Mercury sedan, but somehow escaped without injury.

Carpenter said the family was heading east on Route 9 from Bangor, where they had been Christmas shopping, when the crash occurred just after 6 p.m. Sunday.

The accident took place just east of the intersection of Crawford Arm Road, the trooper said. A vehicle traveling behind Farris’ car stopped and called authorities about the accident. Speed was not a factor, Carpenter said.

The crash was Maine’s second fatal collision of 2007 involving a motor vehicle and a moose. The other fatality happened in May when a car struck a moose on Interstate 95 in Medway, killing the driver.