HAMPDEN, Maine — A Ford Focus driven by a woman and her daughter was a total loss after being rear-ended by a fully loaded tractor-trailer truck on Interstate 95 on Tuesday afternoon, but both women escaped serious injury.
“I think they were pretty lucky. I hope they know how lucky they are,” said Maine State Trooper Forrest Simpson, who responded to the accident call at 1:43 p.m. “The truck had a full load of lumber, so it had to weigh about 80,000 pounds.”
Traffic had been reduced to one lane as construction workers were putting cold patch on potholes on I-95 before the accident occurred.
“The driver of the tractor-trailer told me there was some dust kicked up from the construction work going on just north of the Bangor-Hermon line, and it limited his visibility,” Simpson said.
Gloria Ripley of Sidney was driving the 2000 Focus with daughter Erin, the car’s owner, in the front passenger seat. They had slowed down as traffic had almost halted in the single-lane area of the southbound lane on I-95 near mile marker 178.
“The car’s driver told me she slowed down due to construction and saw the truck come up on her in her rearview and then she was rear-ended by the truck,” Simpson said.
Having had recent surgery, Erin Ripley, also of Sidney, was checked out by emergency medical personnel after complaining of leg pain and was cleared to leave the scene. Gloria Ripley was uninjured.
The driver of the truck, David Marberry, 51, of Houma, La., was uninjured and his truck had only minor fender damage. He was allowed to continue on with his load to Virginia.
“No charges are pending,” Simpson said.
The Ripleys got a ride home from a family member.
Simpson said traffic was never halted during and after the accident and proceeded through the single lane as emergency services attended to the accident victims.
aneff:
By Andrew Neff
If we all hurry maybe we can all go see!!!!!
Stupid.
No details to even tell us if traffic is stopped, backed up, detoured etc, just to tell us a crash occurred on I95 with no details…go on……
I think that’s 511. ;)
Thanks for the suggestion. I just spent 5 minutes fighting with the computer on 511 and wound up hanging up without any information. Talk about a waste of money.
511—–1
Bangorian—-0
511 is like Augusta, a complete waste of time….
The news has two choices, tell you what they know now, or wait until they have a more complete story-you get that later. This is provided by the police, they have no extra reporters to chase down accidents.
or waste our time like a shoddy salesperson, catch your attention with a headline thinking it is important and after you get the lack of details, it was a complete waste of time
No Matter How or What BDN reports The Public Has Biatching to do… They either report too early, not early enough, etc…. wth?
There are plenty of them out there. I agree with you. Shut it complainers.
“Well, we know where the troopers are at, Ralph” “Yeah, lets keep drinking and not go that route , John.”
‘ Oh , and the FBI are at Fort Kent, we might wanna not go there either.” ‘ Oh Yeah! Great Idea John!’
The worst wreck in Hampden continues to be the city council.
Well thankfully everyone is ok.
“The driver of the tractor-trailer told me there was some dust kicked up from the construction work going on just north of the Bangor-Hermon line, and it limited his visibility,” Simpson said. So naturally the driver slowed down to a speed appropriate to the visibility. Must have because they let him go on his way uncharged.
I hope so.
Nicely put. I also wonder how much the truck actually did weigh. Had they checked this before sending him/her on their way they might have found, oh my gosh!, that the truck was running overweight.
If you actually watched the video you would see the D.o.T. checking the truck out before they sent him on his way. Glad they are ok could of been alot worse.
Driven by a mother and her daughter? Was it a driver ed car with dual controls? Good that all survived this accident. BDN, you may want to edit that first sentence.
NO CHARGES PENDING??? WTF???
If there was dust etc then the truck driver should have SLOWED down!!
How about “Driving too fast for conditions” ???
A vehicle that rear ends another vehicle is nearly always at fault for failure to maintain a safe distance etc. This is such BS… and they want to put 100K trucks on the interstate. That extra 20k could be the difference between life and DEATH for this lucky family!
I agree dave. that is freaking crazy…or about failing to maintain control of mv. freaking ridiculous
Speed was not a factor. It takes a truck with an 80,000 pound load much longer to stop than a passenger car. The driver did his best to stop, in the earlier story it said he was barely moving when he hit to do so little damage.
I agree. Too many times have I been tailgated by semis to believe that this accident couldn’t have been prevented.
To truck drivers, PLEASE back up! Give us some distance.
(and to all drivers, be sure to put enough distance between you and a truck if you are passing it!)
More than likely the four wheeler pulled out in front of him,
all truckers should have a go pro hd video camera on their dash recording all the time
Put the cellphone DOWN !!!
If it was that dusty – the truck should have slowed way down. Someone better get out there and start monitoring these truckers. How may truck accidents is this now in the last few months?
It was time for a new car anyway…
thats the worst excuse ive ever heard. Dust? really?
How could the car be driven by a woman AND her daughter??? Whoever wrote the article isnt too bright.
I’d say that the driver wasn’t going that fast- if he was, there would be nothing left of this tiny car.