SEARSPORT, Maine — An 11-year-old Searsport girl was taken to a Bangor hospital Friday afternoon for injuries she suffered when she was struck by a car while pushing her little brother in a stroller along Loop Road.
The girl, whose name was not released Friday, suffered a femur fracture and possible internal injuries, Searsport Police Chief Dick LeHaye said Friday evening. She was airlifted to Eastern Maine Medical Center by LifeFlight. No further information about her medical condition was available Friday night.
The girl’s year-and-a-half-old brother, who was in the stroller, was not injured, LeHaye said. A dog the girl was walking with at the time also was struck, he said. The dog was taken to a local veterinarian for treatment of its injuries, which were not life-threatening.
According to LeHaye, the accident happened about 3:40 p.m. on a narrow stretch of the road. Two vehicles that were traveling in opposite directions met and one of them, a 2007 Chevrolet Aveo driven by Richard Cook, 42, of Northport, moved over to avoid the oncoming vehicle. He then struck the girl and the puppy.
LeHaye said Cook indicated that he was traveling no more than 20 to 25 mph at the time. No charges are pending in connection with the accident, he said.
As far as I can tell, it’s open season on pedestrians in this state.
just had a car hit and run in bucksport about an hour ago at least in this story the person who hit the pedestrian stayed at the scene. hope the little girl in this story is ok…
Heaven forbid you should have to tap your brakes for something!!
Careful there. yelling and wildly jumping to conclusions could injure you.
Most adults cannot walk a stroller with a 1 1/2 yr old baby and a dog at the same time safely. That being said, how hard is it to pull over or stop if you are being crowded between a car and a pedestrian?
I’m glad the accident was relatively minor and I hope the little girl recovers quickly.
My thoughts exactly. Why would you chance it, trying to fit between a pedestrian and a vehicle like that. No common sense there.
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Why?
Are you nuts? Letting an 11 year old sibling walk a little brother is not neglect, it is called being part of a family.
I have long been an advocate of 10-12 year olds babysitting younger siblings but I don’t know about taking them for a walk down the road. I’m glad she will be ok. The poor kid was probably walking with her back to the traffic and didn’t even see it coming or have a chance to move.
She was helping her mother.
Why is everyone in such a hurry to get no place in particular? What ever happen to YIELD THE RIGHT OF WAY? Hope the litttle girl recovers quickly.
My thoughts exactly!! Have people forgotten that they have a brake pedal in their vehicles!!
Needless accident!!
At 20-25 mph. your stopping distance is less than 100 ft. If he couldn’t see more than 100 ft. in front of him then he was going to fast. Or distracted. I wonder if they checked his cell phone?
100 feet for what? a tank? All cars have this feature?
read it again he said ‘LESS than 100 feet’ and his point was that if you cant see 100 feet in front of you then you shouldnt be doing 20-25.
Yes I just felt it was too general, like saying snooki has slept with over 2 guys when you know its in the hundreds. It should be less than 30 feet for most cars, a typical 4 door takes around 150 feet from 60 , performance oriented cars vettes/porsches take about 95 and trucks and suv’s take around 175.
Reaction time plays apart in this, not just the physics of foreword momentum. To prove this get an unsuspecting driver to do 20-25mph. Let the driver be doing their thing and all of a sudden scream STOP as loud as you can. Now look at the distance it took to stop. I agree it’s shorter if you know it’s coming.
Hence why driver training should be more comprehensive. Reaction time could mean different things to different people.
I third that-WTH?? If you see someone walking,and another approaching vehicle,STOP WHERE YOU ARE!!
No joke. Wherever I go there are about 42 other guys driving like fools, switching lanes at high speeds, spinouts, dougnuts, burnt rubber. Can’t remember the last time I saw a cop on the road or the last time someone was charged with causing an accident. I’m going a buck 90 sometimes and people are zooming by me. It is scary out there.
Are you crazy?
Skowhegan Hospital RFGH offers a babysitting course to all 11 year olds. I would say the parents wouldn’t be held responsible. I allowed all 3 of my daughters to take the course at 11. For many reasons. I was hoping it may teach them some safety, I would love to look the curriculumn over. Obviously not for spelling. This would be a great time to teach young girls about domestic violence how to recognize it as well as escape other dangerous situations, such as molestations. This is the age that I believe it happens most to girls either at home or babysitting.
11 year olds in my opinion are too young to babysit, some are mature enough to stay home by themselves while you grab a gallon of milk. What I refer to as an hour or less. A quick trip to the store could be an hour, even if its next door, so I believe you don’t leave a child home unless u think they can be there an hour. I know many people who allow it. Unfortunately, in this economy as in the old days, it has become a norm for many people. I must say in the old days they were on the farm and there wasn’t a whole lot to get into. No television, cell phones, games and computers to distract the child sitter. Today the sitter or parent is too busy with technology to care for the infant. This is a rare event and very sad story because the little girl was either walking to a friends house or to a family members would be my guess to visit. Unless she was dropped off at the sitters from school and walking the baby to mom’s work. Alot of children have to be picked up at a certain time. At any rate, this is a very sad story and very rare as MOST drivers watch very closely for strollers and wheelchairs as well as people with canes. Wondering if the driver was texting, or distracted??? A whole new story…..
Easy to blame the babysitter, but the fault here is with the drivers who dont pay attention to what their doing and fail to follow driver safety laws put in place to avoid accidents such as this. Maine has a law that says you must yield to pedestrians and bicycles passing at least 3 feet away from them with caution. This driver should have slowed down and waited for the opposing vehicle to pass before passing the pedestrian at a safe distance. Evidently they were in too much of a hurry or not paying attention when they encounter’d the pedestrian. Charges should be pending though they are not.
but your “quick trip to the store” you could get in a accident as well gotta think that way too
Is it fishing that is only second to farming as dangerous occupations. Living on a farm has inherent risks. Apart from the fact that, even in the old days, not everyone lived on a farm. Your speculations in this matter warrant a course in real life.
You seem to have no comprehension of how a FAMILY works.
Didn’t we read a story almost the same about a year ago?
This seems to be the problem today, people just can’t stop for a few seconds that it would take for the other vehicle to pass.
Hope the little girl and puppy are OK.
I doubt it was a place in the road that warranted that, if two cars couldn’t safely fit on that piece of road it would have been fixed long ago.
I’m sorry, I should have clarified, as I believe it was similar but another part of the State.
She is ok. shes sore but she is on the road to recovery!!
I just read back through the article and I did not see a name of a road; where the accident happened was described as ‘a narrow part of the road.’ That tells me that drivers in both directions should have slowed down and proceeded with caution. This girl was not walking on Route One, for Pete’s sake, the road may have been the one she lived on. Since when can a person not feel safe walking on a side street in Maine?
It sounds to me like either the other car was too close to the centerline or mr.cook overcompensated in how much clearance he needed. But again, accidents can happen and as a pedestrian you should always be vigilant. Brakes fail, tires blow out, black ice can form hell a driver could be stung by a bee and die.
It says right in the article it was the Loop Road. I do not know where that is but was told it was out back of searsport?? not sure
You are correct.
How tragic!! Thoughts and prayers go out to this young ladies family and friends.
On another note: Some of these comments are totally uncalled for. I realize empathy is hard to come by these days and all, but find it and exercise it when these articles post. This girls family, I am certain, also read the online articles. How would you feel if you were in their position? I am sure they are all feeling their own kind of guilt here; they don’t need, or deserve, yours added to it.
They put brakes on cars for a reason……if you cant get around the little girl without running her and her puppy over USE THE BRAKES !!
So many comments about this that I would like to see someone from the town of Searsport speak to the amount of traffic that travels this road – Loop Road – whether it is a dead hear, dirt road, etc.
We raised our family in Naples, Maine, at a time when the normal traffic was three cars going out to work in the morning and coming home at night … that was the late 70s. Has Maine changed so much that we don’t care for the neighbors that live on our road enough to stop and let them walk safely????
Where is the common sense in allowing someone to push a baby in a stroller on a “narrow stretch of the road”?
Speedy recovery to the 11 year old girl and the puppy.
You are by every definition of the word, IGNORANT.
Walking a stroller on any street is a recipe for disaster. I would never let my 11-year-old take a baby for a walk on the road.
NO your wrong! it’s the Drivers fault!!! Cars need to STOP for People it’s the LAW!!!!! Maybe gas should go up to $20 a gallon and maybe then people will start walking more and stop driving so much! Back in the 1950s people took their babies a walk in a carriage all the time and drivers looked out for them!!!
In crosswalks, on regular roads there is no law dictating a car stop because someone is using the shoulder as a death walk. Have fun walking or riding your bike to portland from bangor, or when its snowing.
No charges for driving with a vision impairment? Usually a girl, stroller and puppy on a string are relatively easy to see. Glad I spend most of my time on the road in a 40 ton vehicle, I feel safer in the Sea of Moronity.
Hoping for the fastest recovery for the little girl and her puppy
While I am not a supporter of running over kids I have to ask why was a kid playing in the road? My mother would have blanked my blank for that.
That’s awful! I hope she, her little brother, and the puppy…………..will forget this whole thing!
State Law dictates that drivers give pedestrians/bicyclists on the side of the road 3 feet of clearance. I run every day in Maine and have to run with a stick in my hand to hold out when cars are coming. They are much more generous with space when they know that if they get close they will scratch their precious paint job. Many drivers do not care about about their fellow men, it is indicative of the culture we live in where human life is not valued.