BANGOR, Maine — A front stabilizer bar that came loose is being blamed for a rollover crash on Interstate 95 Tuesday morning that sent the vehicle’s driver to a hospital emergency room, Maine State Police Trooper Chris Hashey said.
Tracy St. John, 38, of Bangor was driving her green 2004 GMC Envoy south around 10:30 a.m. when the accident occurred.
“She lost control and struck the guardrail on the left side of the highway and rolled over,” Hashey said.
When asked what caused the accident, the trooper said St. John could not control her SUV.
“It looks like the sway bar became disconnected,” Hashey said.
The vehicle came to rest on its roof in the middle of the roadway near the Kenduskeag Stream overpass.
St. John, who was the lone occupant of the Envoy, was changing lanes from the travel lane to the passing lane when she lost control of the vehicle, Hashey said. She was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center by ambulance and was conscious in the emergency room when the trooper went to check on her about 1½ hours after the crash.
A hospital spokesman said at around 4 p.m. that she was discharged earlier in the day.
The southbound lane of the highway was closed for about an hour as Bangor police, fire and emergency crews cared for St. John, and turned over and removed the destroyed SUV, Bangor police Sgt. Paul Edwards said.
The rollover occurred in the southbound lane between the Broadway and Union Street exits.
I think you need to read the headline again – “Southbound I-95 in Bangor Due to Rollover” Maybe it should read “Southboand I-95 CLOSED in Bangor Due to Rollover”?
Maybe you should read the headline more carefully, It says ” Southbound I-95 in Bangor Closed Due to Rollover” !
The title originally was missing the word “closed”. It has since been fixed between the time you and lovethebdn posted
That is what is wonderful about electronic media.
No need to get the headline or story right.
No need for the Editor to stop websurfing online gaming sites.
Go back later after some readers point out the failure of
the writer to know what they are doing and fix it up.
Who cares ??
Its only the BDN.
I’m telling you, the paper seems to have eliminated the copy desk and is using us readers to do the job instead…
I been asking for my cut of the pay for editing, still nothing yet. Was hoping as much editing us readers have needed to do, that I could just give my full time job notice
Hope she is ok. Good luck lady.
Bad section of highway there. A lot of people drive through this section like they are qualifying for a race.
A lot of people enter from broadway as if they have the right of way.
How true!
This happend well pass the Broadway on-ramp. I was traveling northbound right after it happened.
The broadway on ramp fiasco continues to screw up traffic, quite often all the way to union street.
I avoid that on-ramp as if it has the plague and I know how to yield into any sort of traffic.
me two, floor it and they better get over !
Not just broadway, but all on ramps
Merge is not latin for “give up”.
It’s also not french for “get out of the way, I’m gettin on”.
Pardon moi’ je am not quite finished yet.
what about the 395 exit, some coming on as others going off, confusing to say the least….
Is a GMC Envoy an SUV?
If it was an SUV, why wasnt the fact it was an SUV mentioned?
Vehicle wrecks involving SUV’s should state the fact it was an SUV.
You can’t be serious…….
Unfortunately he is !
I would think that most poeple who don’t know what an Envoy is, really don’t care. It’s not the guts of this accident story. Just in case someone does care, the Chevrolet Trailblazer is the sister vehicle to the Envoy from General Motors. Who knows, a Trailblazer or Envoy could crash between Union and Hammond Streets and we’d all know what they are in the automotive world.
Why does it matter what kind of vehicle it is?? Are you on bath salts!?
What kind of bath salts? Monkey dust, or cooking spices?
Or was it opiates, and was it synthetic opiates or natural (totally organic) opiates?
People accusing others of being on drugs should specify what they are on.
LOL
lol!
Well duh!
Of course it was an SUV, didn’t you see the part where it said she wasn’t hurt? Trying doing that in a P.O.S. plastic eco-cruiser.
Amen.
Yes, it was an SUV and it had a mind of its own…..yes, possessed…..and when the driver tried to impose her will and change lanes…..over it went that SUV…..possessed, yes possessed I say…..that SUV.
Not to mention what color was the girls hair, was it dyed, etc.
Copied from the caption under the photo…
“A GMC Envoy SUV is righted after rolling over in the southbound lane of Interstate 95 in Bangor Jan. 3, 2012.”
I wonder if they had Limp Bizkit’s “Rollin'” playing at the time of the accident?
Here are some photos I took from the northbound travel lanes. Fire/EMS was En route and southbound traffic was getting by on the shoulder. Photo’s taken about 10:28…
I had no clue she was still inside the vehicle when I passed by.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b305/notyou001/crash001.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b305/notyou001/Crash002.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b305/notyou001/Crash003.jpg
its a wonder you didn’t cause another accident…. must have been pretty hard to drive forward while snapping pics out drivers window….
I was moving about 5MPH when I took the pictures and I had no clue if they even would come out. I can keep my eyes on the road while I point a camera in another direction and snap a picture. One just has no clue if they will get a good picture.
Take the 3rd picture for instance. It is not a great photo because I no clue what I was taking a picture off.
Don’t point that camera at the Mass trooper who thought his neighbor looked like a deer.Anyway, I see nothing wrong with what you did. It’s fairly obvious you were just pointing and shooting. At least the 3rd pic shows enough of her vehicle to see it held up fairly well. Good thing she wasn’t driving a convertible.
5mph on I95? I thought the minimum speed was 45?
Is that really bad sarcasm?
Wasn’t meant to be. But I would say that if you were violating the minimum speed limit on the highway that perhaps you were a little more distracted than you think.
Well this will blow your mind then. We came to a complete stop more than once.
Maybe because everyone was slowing down to take pictures? ;->
Nice troll attempt.
Seriously? It was meant as really bad sarcasm and to elicit a smile. Ergo the wink.
Ha! Thanks for the laugh on this :-)
There should be a law against taking photos while driving.
I’m willing to bet the current distracted driving law does cover just such a thing but I was never distracted from my driving when I took the pictures.
So should using a radar gun or the remote that controls car mounted units.
I hear the BDN is looking for a photographer, you should apply K of B. Nice pics. Thanks
Bet the crappy roads knocked that sway bar loose over time.
It could have broke during the rollover too and we will never know what really caused the accident.
Maybe hitting guard rails loosened the bar… Driver was traveling to fast and changing lanes probablycaused the accident and maybe NOT the stabilizer bar… Just saying…
I am the driver of this envoy. I was most certainly NOT going too fast. The reason i was pulling into passing lane was because i was behind a car going 45mph. My max speed was no more than 55mph. As far as the stabilizer bar i just had it fixed bc the nuts were loose and my mechanic checked it twice over a one week period to ensure safety. This issue is not uncommon to the GMC Envoy and im finding out there are many lawsuits being filed in regards to the same problem. I am a Mother and i would never drive fast enough or erractically endangering my life n devastating the life of my only child.
I hate to tell you, but a loose, broken, or even missing sway bar will not cause your vehicle to roll over on its own. Gee hopefully you’ll be able to cash in on one of those lawsuits.
If it broke loose During the lane change one could lose control due to the sudden change in mechanical handling, No?
Sway bars are almost useless. Under normal driving conditions, such as a lane change, a sway bar doesn’t do anything. Sway bars are designed to reduce body roll during extreme cornering conditions such as avoiding a deer, or trying not to hit the guardrail when you look up from your cell phone cause you were texting.
The amount of shade-tree mechanics who know NOTHING about this stuff is amazing. PS you are one of them.
I have a degree in Automotive Technologies, and I’m ASE master certified.
Online question and answers…
Where did you get your mechanic lisence?
She never said there would be a lawsuit so stop being so nasty. She has been thru enough without your ignorant comments
My life is way more important then any lawsuit, guess i dont have the same train of thought as you. No amount of money could compare to life….no im not suing. I work for my money.
Did you give Hashey your phone #?
Sorry for your accident, I am glad you are okay. A lot of commenters will ignore whatever you say as they know they are right and their is no possible way that someone there and part of the incident could possibly know more then they do. It is amazing what people will say incognito that they would not say in front of someone. People can get real nasty.
Glad you’re okay, ignore people like jlegere1.
Arrrr. People must be really bored if all they have to do is discuss your accident. How ignorant to try and decide what caused the accident when they were not driving. Unless your the person under the vehicle doing the inspection please do not say it was driver error and not mechanical. Why be so quick to raise doubt that it couldn’t of been mechanical. Get a life. Be thankful she is still alive and a little boy still has his mother.
Tracy- I am so glad that you are okay. That must have been so scary for you.
The stabilizer bar and the sway bar are two different components. The stabilizer has taken the place of what were called “brake reaction bars” on older vehicles.
Speed limit is 55 on that stretch of road, she was going 50. Steering was lost BEFORE hitting the gaurd rail. Sad how some people find fault with the person rather than accepting the reality accidents can happen due to mechanical failures and not driver error.
All accidents are “driver error” a driver is responsible for the condition of their vehicle.
One more reason why I wouldn’t own a Government Motors Corporation product…
Glad the woman was driving an SUV and wasnt seriously hurt.
Best wishes on a speedy recovery.
A disconnected sway bar cannot cause a roll over. Sway bars reduce body roll during hard cornering. They do not help keep vehicles upright.
Drag cars and purpose built off road vehicles do not even have sway bars.
you saved me from posting that info…thanks
Yep same here, I drove around a whole day with one broken on my jeep till i found a shop that could fix it. I wouldn’t try a rally race like that, but it OK
If it broke loose During the lane change one could lose control due to the sudden change in mechanical handling, No?
No. It merely prevents significant shifts in body roll. Any hard yank on the wheel one way or the other would cause a crash, with or without the sway bar.
More likely than not, this person hit the guard rail at an odd angle and that rolled the vehicle. The sway bar probably came free on impact.
Even if the end links were broken, there are two mounts that hold the bar to the frame of the vehicle. It would not have come so far out of place as to cause an issue.
I suggest you read all the recalls and lawsuits against GMC for mechanical failures and parts that fracture in the front end then disattach leaving the driver with no way to steer the vehicle. The air bags did not even work. Not the drivers fault.
The wrong information may just lead to another accident should you drive with a bad sway bar and that guy should stop posting things that will lead people to believe they can drive around safely with out one.
You may be right Daved931, I had a Subaru Justy that continuously lost the sway bar (clamps would break) and after awhile I said the heck with it, I threw the bar in the back seat and drove it for 4 more years without it– I never had any problems!!!
I’ve had mine replaced several times by mechanics who tell me that if I don’t I’ll lose my steering control. You mean they’re BSing me?
They are.
If it broke loose During the lane change one could lose control due to the sudden change in mechanical handling, No?
They are BSing you. 40 years ago, most cars didn’t even have sway bars. It’s just to improve handling. Being able to drive safely is not predicated on having a sway bar.
What cars didn’t have sway bar forty years ago? The difference was that in those days the “sway bar” was always up front, as today they put them on either end of the vehicle, or sometimes both. The old sway bars connected from the underside of the “nose” (front fender assembly) to the lower A-frames.
yes
Actually the sway bar on an Envoy is far more necessary than it would be on a smaller car. sudden failure of the sway bar is far more dangerous than driving without one. When the sway par fails, an inexperienced driver might jerk the wheel in the opposite direction of the “tilt” which is precisely the wrong thing to do. Allowing the vehicle to follow the new path, slowing and stopping is the best course of action. A Maine vehicle manufactured with a sway bar should not get an inspection sticker if the bar has been removed.
A subaru is not as high off the ground as a SUV so there is little or no comparison.
That may be so, but I had a vehicle in which the sway bar came loose and was banging against the rim of the tire… could have slipped a few inches, caught the rim, stopped the rotation of the tire and caused the driver to lose control…
Hope she’s all right.
Feel free to read the actual article. She smacked into the rail, which probably made her overcorrect and flip the SUV.
She had no steering before she ever hit the guardrail.
There IS a potential for loosing control with a sway bar link breaking on the Envoy. There is a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) out for the Envoy and Trailblazer for both front and rear sway bar links. The problem can be just what APPEARS to have happened here; the sway bar link is located close to the suspension components on the front end. When the link breaks (It is a straight steel bar with swivel ends on each end that allow the sway bar to flex with the suspension), it can get caught in the other suspension components and prevent the steering from operating properly. This is usually only for a brief moment because if the driver turns the wheel back the other way it would dislodge the sway bar (in theory) but you can imagine what has already happened during that moment.
I own an envoy and like it so much that I’m actually looking to replace it with a newer one. Ya ya, I know where there is one for sale as well! :-) I have an 03 and am looking for an 09 (the last year they made the envoy). I have replaced all four of my sway bar links since I have owned mine (5 years). One actually broke while driving but fortunately I was in my driveway and wasn’t going very fast. There are “things” with every vehicle and overall I am very happy with the Envoy. But then again, I used to own a Ford Pinto and we all know what happens to them in a rear end crash!
One couldn’t read all of these comments without wondering if their own vehicle has any outsatnding problems. The number one market segment in Maine is the full size pickup truck. GM and Ford pretty much own it. GM has a much larger problem than sway bars ,it’s the ongoing problem with rusty brake lines. If you own one, do some homework online to see if your year and model is affected. If a brake line goes you’ll have little to no time to react. The NHTSA began investiagting about 6 million GM trucks and SUVs, but then whittled it down to 1.8 million vehciles in states like ours with heavy salt use.
Im glad I am not the only one here who thinks it is highly unlikely the stabilizer bar caused this crash. I have built a number of lifted jeeps and driven them on the street with the stabilizers disconnected. I have yet to wreck one!
glad shes ok
Good thing we have state inspection stickers on all of our vehicles to prevent this sort of thing….
Things never break within the year following an inspection…how convenient! People are so quick to judge :(
I knew a guy that had a physical for work and had a heart attack at the gym several weeks later. The only person I know that can find everything wrong is my wife…yes dear, I’m kidding, what’s for supper?
Accidents are unforeseeable. This was not an accident, as there are always signs of mechanical trouble before parts break. That’s why it’s best to call it a “crash.” It’s also why transportation officials call these things crashes, not “accidents.”
This was not an accident, as there are always signs of mechanical trouble before parts break….
Not true.
I hope you didn’t really mean that, and was being sarcastic.
I didn’t say it……I copied and pasted it..
So how do parts just break, without any wear and tear that produces symptoms, no matter how seemingly insignificant?
About a week before my power steering failed, I heard a strange noise under the hood. That was a sign. I didn’t know what it meant, but it was a sign.
They do it all the time, some give warning, some dont.. Parts break without warning…No doubt.
Go to Craig’s List to have free advertising, so you really think people are looking for dates here?
Um, no the sway bar doesn’t keep a vehicle up-right, but when the sway bar breaks, not “dissconnected” as the article stated, and the vehicle goes out of control because of this action, then it could potentially roll over as this vehicle clearly did. Maybe you should your facts straight before commenting.
This vehicle wasn’t purchased at Bangor Car Care was it?
This accident was due to a mechanical failure nothing more and nothing else. She was driving on the highway at a speed of 50 miles per hour. She was not talking on a cell or texting or goofing off. She was not negligent in any manner. It did NOT happen on any ramp. Anyone who was driving that Envoy would have had the same accident due to the loss of steering. Very thankful this young lady is still alive. Thank you to those who cared enough to stop to help. One man gave her his jacket and kind words. Thank you for your help when so many are trying to find fault and place blame where it need not be at a time of severe trauma.
Thank you very much. You obviously were there and witnessed things with your own eyes. People can say what they like its pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. most importantly i am alive, considering the air bags didnt deploy either-prob my fault too huh? I did what i could to control it the best i could with no steering my first thought was not hurting all the cars around me n was actually relieved to hit the guardrail instead. All of the thanx in the world to the man that talked me thru being trapped in the car until rescue got there. People are so quick to judge and can be just downright mean. I could never post some of things people are posting its just wrong.
Arrr. People are so ignorant being consumed about an accident they were not even involved in. Who is anybody to say it wasn’t mechanical? Get a life people and just be thankful a life was spared and a little boy still has his mother.