BANGOR, Maine — Vehicles were sliding off slick roadways all across the state Monday, keeping police and rescue personnel, utility repair crews and public works employees busy.
Two vehicles that crashed early Monday knocked out power Down East, at least two tractor-trailers jackknifed, and one woman in Blue Hill was trapped in her car after bringing down utility wires.
None of the crashes caused serious injury, police officials said. The snow conditions caused a number of cancellations, however.
“I was hitting the offramp and hit a little slush, and it took me right around,” said Belfast resident John Arbo shortly after his Honda Acura was pulled from a Bangor ditch. “I don’t have my studded snows on yet.”
Arbo, 26, had just left his job at L.L. Bean in Bangor and was heading home at around 10 a.m. when he hit a patch of slippery road as he was trying to exit Interstate 395 onto Route 202.
Standing on the side of the road after the accident, Arbo said he was still a little shaken by it. He said he would be heading straight home to pick up his studded snow tires and get them put on his car, which only had a small piece of bumper ripped off inthe minor crash.
“It’s life in Maine in the wintertime,” Arbo said.
The crash was one of many that kept police and rescue crews hustling on Monday morning.
Maine State Police responded to 44 snow-related accidents in Penobscot, Piscataquis, Washington and Hancock counties, all caused by the icy road conditions.
“We had 35 in Troop E and nine in Troop J,” a dispatcher for the Orono barracks said at about 4:15 p.m.
Troop E includes Penobscot and Piscataquis counties, while Troop J handles Washington and Hancock counties.
“I’ve had five myself,” state police Trooper Phil Pushard said at 10:30 a.m., just after leaving the scene of Arbo’s spinout. “We’re dealing with a jackknife in Newport right now, and we’re heading to a rollover in Clifton.”
Bangor police got its first accident call at about 5 a.m. and by 3:30 p.m. had handled a dozen minor crashes, Sgt. Paul Edwards said.
“Eleven were property damage accidents,” Edwards said. “There was one PI [personal injury accident] when their air bag went off.”
A Canadian tractor-trailer jackknifed on Route 9 in Township 22 around 8 a.m., according to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office. The truck lost traction and slid into a ditch, Deputy Luke Gross said. Then the trailer spun around, pushing the whole vehicle onto its side.
The accident sent the truck’s load of tires spilling onto the road, which was closed until about 3 p.m., when it was opened to one lane of traffic. The road was cleared by 4 p.m.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection came to the scene because the accident caused a diesel fuel leak. The truck’s driver, Clarence Brushette, 51, of Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia, was uninjured.
In Blue Hill, a ‘99 Volvo driven by Tabatha Smith, 21, of Deer Isle, struck a utility pole on Mines Road. The pole came down beside Smith’s vehicle, and state police had to wait for the arrival of crews from Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. showed up before pulling her out of the wrecked car.
“She didn’t have any serious injuries, so she just stayed in the vehicle until Bangor Hydro arrived to make sure it was safe to get her out,” said Trooper Dan Ryan.
Smith was brought to Blue Hill Memorial Hospital where she was treated for injuries that were not life-threatening. Around noon, Bangor Hydro was still working to replace the utility pole.
In Ellsworth, a white 2000 Jeep driven by Anna Curtis, 17, of Lamoine careened off Buttermilk Road and struck a tree. Curtis and a passenger, Deborah Pickard, suffered minor facial injuries in the accident. Curtis had been driving too fast for the slick road conditions, according to an accident report.
Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office deputies also responded to accidents.
As emergency responders deal with slippery driving conditions throughout the state, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning.
Two separate vehicle crashes involving utility poles Monday morning knocked out power to 2,219 customers in Washington and Hancock counties, according to a Bangor Hydro news release.
A separate outage in Penobscot County, caused by a tree limb on a power line, caused seven to be without lights,the statement says. Bangor Hydro spokeswoman Susan Faloon said utility crews quickly replaced the broken poles and restored power.
Franklin, Oxford and Somerset counties were experiencing heavy snow and freezing rain, according to Mike Kistner of the National Weather Service in Gray.
Kistner said he expected coastal areas of the state to experience all rain.
A winter weather advisory also was issued for Penobscot, Aroostook, Hancock and Piscataquis counties, Paul Fitzsimmons of the National Weather Service in Caribou said.
He expected a mix of snow and sleet to continue throughout the morning, with southern areas of the counties changing over to rain by the afternoon, while sleet and freezing rain would continue into Monday night in northern sections.
Along the Maine Turnpike, speeds were reduced to 45 miles per hour between Gray and Augusta, according to a post on the turnpike’s Twitter feed.
Schools and businesses all over the state canceled or delayed classes. The list included Auburn School, Washington County Community College and RSU 9 in Farmington, among others.
Edwards and Pushard said motorists should use common sense whenever they are driving in the snow.
“Slow down and allow time to get where you need to be,” Edwards said.
“Slow down — it’s slippery,” the trooper said. “It’s dangerous as hell out there.”
BDN reporter Mario Moretto contributed to this report.
Drivers using “common sense” seems to be something that escapes so many driving on our roads today…..
Come on!! It’s hard these days to multi-task & drive!
especially the tanker truck full of acid un # 3264 that passed me at 630 in etna north bound going 65mph while everyone else was going 35.
Sometimes the most sensible thing to do is take the bus.
How would Mr. Arbo do that? How would anyone who works off hours or lives outside the bus’ service area?
The most sensible thing to do is slow down.
True, but bus service is pretty sketchy in many parts of Maine. I am not sure if there would be a bus from Belfast to Bangor that would be workable for a person such as the one quoted in the article to get to his job and also to get home. The bus would likely not be available if he got out of work late ( Concord?)
One of the perks of living in a more urban area is the convenience and availability of public transportation.
during the winter, Concord runs two buses a day on the coast, one leaves Bangor at 7 and arrives in Belfast at 8. The other leaves Belfast at 5 and gets to Bangor at 6. If you live down there and work days in Bangor youre screwed.
The nearest city with an acceptable transit system is Boston. Subways every 10 minutes, local buses a couple times an hour, regional buses and trains hourly.
Even living in southern NH, you have Concord going to or from Boston every hour from 4 am to midnight.
Thanks for the info. That is pretty much what I thought.
Northern Maine (even central Maine and other parts) is not pedestrian -friendly, nor does it have sufficient bus service to accomodate many needs. Cars, cars, and more cars!!
don’t get me wrong, i love having a car, but i do believe that this area needs to be much more pedestrian friendly. Not everyone is a pedestrian or transit user by choice. Sure there is a footpath up Stillwater ave, but try crossing the road or going into the mall from the path, this time of year its wicked.
One time a few years back i tried to cross Stillwater to the little plaza with Subway, the Verizon store and Pepinos. It took me 45 minutes to catch a break in traffic, I was late for work and my boss could see me the whole time.
Yes, it is as you say. I know of many who have had those kind of experiences and some close calls. Many don’t care about walkers around here. There are polite drivers but many more who are not.
People with common sense drive a Green Heavy Chevy….Lock her in and Get-R_Done like the Governor does.
I’m sorry: but there is no such thing as “common sense”. There is sense, and those that have it- but it sure as hell isn’t common!!
Unfortunately not using “common sense” is becoming an every day occurrence. Not just when it snows.
No common sense, along with the lack of courtesy and manners …
This used to be a normal thing, a few drivers, mostly NEW drivers would not get their mind in to WINTER DRIVE mode and a few minor accidents would happen, Lately, over the past couple of years, the mind set seems to be – fast and faster – oops!! —here we go, heading for the ditch at 70 MPH!! I wish people would slow down some, I would rather they got to their destination instead of the hospital, or even worse, the morgue!!!!
Or take someone else out, who is driving as safe as they can on slippery roads.
Boy, do I ever agree with you on THAT one!!! Don’t you wish you could talk to the younger generation and make them listen?? I know however when I was that age and a new driver, I figured that I would NEVER die, I would NEVER have an accident – well, I came so close one night to having a bad accident and I smartened up BIG time and I listened when the weatherman said slow down, leave early to get to work on time- that way you will always get to work!!
Unfortunately that is how many learn. Though I saw quite a few older adults blow past me on the highway this morning while I stayed in the right lane obeying the 45mph signs. People get a false sense of security driving suvs/trucks or slapping snow tires on their little car thinking it will make them safe on ice and snow. Then reality sets in when they have to suddenly stop or swerve and figure out that maybe going 70 in slush and black ice was a bad idea.
When I was young I too had a near accident on snowy roads that taught me a lesson. Now, especially in the winter months, I just watch the weather forecast, plan the night before a storm to get up an hour earlier and I get to work without incident. Seems like a simple concept, slow down in bad weather.
People just don’t know how to drive slow anymore
ok sure.
And where is DOT and public works through all this? Seems they don’t listen to weather forecasts. Rather wait and let the crews come in at the normal time so they don’t have to pay overtime. Sitting here listen to them on the scanner and it’s a comedy. “Bomarc park is like a bottle, should we put some sand down?”
It’s called Budget Constraints. People’s safety costs too much money.
No the people want cut cut cut so they get what they want
Yep that’s me. The calcium they are putting on the roads now does more harm than good.
People need to be responsible for their own safety. If you feel that driving is too difficult or you need the sand and salt which hasn’t arrived. stay home.
If its freezen rain you can put all the sand down you want an it will not help because the rain will freeze to the sand
Well I am not sure where you live, but in my area they were laying salt/sand from very early morning (like 3am) on as my dog made sure I knew each time they went by. All the side roads had been plowed at least once, with obvious melting from the salt laid on them, and the main roads maintained by the state were basically just wet with patches of slush and ice, which means they had to have been at it for hours.
That being said, there isn’t a whole lot you can do when its freezing rain except slow down because it doesn’t take long and whatever you laid down is quickly covered again.
I’ve seen plenty of sand trucks out in Bangor…
common sense doesn’t work on ice…..salt and sand work on ice. This is Maine and the cities need to put the sand down!!
oh but common sense does work on ice. what doesn’t work is “multitasking”. hang up the phone and slow down. it isn’t just young drivers that need educating. i remember skating…………ice skating on a side road when i was a kid and everyone seemed to be ok driving on it.
Yes salt an sand will work after the freezing rain has stopped
With sleet and snow still falling, sand just gets buried or plowed to the side.
And then we just wasted money putting down sand and salt that got buried, washed away or plowed away….
and replacing the rusted out steel brake lines.
Sand and salt just make a dirty mess
Actually I find driving easier on just the snow. It takes some getting used to, but it really isn’t that hard.
People have always driven like idiots there are just more people on the road now and the media makes a bigger deal about spin outs. They’ve always happened the difference is that there are cameras everywhere now.
Faster, faster, faster is the name of their game. If these people could drive at the speed of light, they would.
Ya it would he hard trying to stop fast at 186,000 miles per second.
Guess you’d need “air brakes” Wooeee!
We’ve been trained for faster everything, from internet hookups and downloads to car commercial showing their contraptions zipping down snow covered roads to efficiency at work. “Fast is Better!”
I would summons them all for imprudent driving. The excuse that i wasn’t speeding or black ice are weak at best. We are in too much of a hurry to go nowhere in today’s life. The hospital or even worse instills in me that the best thing to do is slow down or don’t even go out if you don’t have to.
I remember when we HAD to slow down, or the tire chains would beat our fenders up! :)
Did you use the jack method? or the roll over the chains method. I jacked the car up, Let the air out of the tires. Pulled the chains taught with a chain lock, then re-inflated the tires. sure fire method of keeping the chains from banging.
We did them the same way as on our log trucks: Lay them out, drive on and hook the two ends together. Easy to get off when not needed. :)
An “accident” is an act of god,unpreventable.. A tree suddenly falls in the road without warning , causing a vehicle to have an ancient.
A ‘crash’ is human error, preventable.
Exhibit A
“10:30 a.m., just after leaving the scene of a car that spun out on Interstate 395 near the Route 202 exit.”
—– a substantial number of vehicles were traveling on Interstate 395 near the Route 202 exit, at the same time,on the same section of road the vehicle that spun out did. How come other vehicles did not ‘spun out’ too,just one vehicle? Because the ‘spun out’ was preventable.
Bottom line is, this dude was just going way too fast on the off ramp.
i have all weather radials seive me jeesus
And you could still wind up in the ditch….
something that in all my years of driving in Maine i have never done…the only thing i ever came close to doing was spinning out on a icy hill – no snow but i went around twice in the middle of road
“Slow down — it’s slippery,” the trooper said. “It’s dangerous as hell out there.”
Every year we hear this how many times? Every year how many of these crashes do you respond to if people would listen?
I thought that when it starts snowing you’re suppose to go faster and let your mind go blank. At least that’s what seems to happen. Oh I forgot, most minds are already blank. Never mind……….
Speaking from experience is always helpful.
Doesn’t anyone have a sense of humor. There I go, I forgot about the blank minds again, darn…….
Slow down,,, lock it in four wheel drive….. You will get there…….
I think an awful lot of drivers are “over mounted.” I don’t know what the proper term is, but in the horse world this is what we call someone who has too much animal for their skill set.
We have been rear-ended, butt tapped really, twice in the past month, both times while parked/stopped, and both times by people in huge vehicles. It seems people do not know how to drive these excessively large pickup trucks/SUVs too well. I watched a person try to pull into a parking spot at the store and it took them the better part of a minute to pull into the spot, try to straighten it out, back up, try again, and finally just left it straddling 2 spots.
Hint: It’s okay to slap your vehicle into 2nd gear (especially when on back roads) and let the engine do the braking for you. It also helps not to be a lead foot. Slow and steady wins the “race.”
:-(
“…The accident sent the truck’s load of tires spilling onto the road, which was closed until about 3 p.m.” Must’ve been a truck full of snow tires–picture a crowd of people sliding around trying to grab some for themselves, blocking the road.
People that break driving law should be taken to court an fined plus pay court cost of 70 bucks with 20 bucks from each case going to to the police for there time in court
-People who are fined (in Maine) already pay court costs, and police who are in court as part of their duties are paid….very well I might add.
It has been proven over and over that “fines” do not stop violations. In fact the government prospers when people disobey traffic laws. Insurance costs go up, the driver pays fines, the driver is subject to several penalties for the same violation, and still the number of violations increases.
Here’s some questions:
Why is just about every vehicle on the road able to obtain speeds of over 100 MPH, when no State in the USA has a speed limit above 80? Same question about speedometers, Why does my car have the capability of recording speeds of up to 150 MPH?
Here’s another; Why are police officers allowed to use personal discretion when enforcing traffic laws? Should they not set one standard for everyone? Why does every child I ever taught how to drive tell me “You are allowed to drive 10% above the maximum posted speed.” This urban legend is totally false, but even adult drivers have repeated it to me.
Here’s another problem: Has anyone on this site ever heard of someone who had their license removed for life?
Out on Long Island (New York) in the 1970’s there was young man in his late teens who tried to “jump” a car over a hump in the road to impress his girlfriend who was riding in the passenger seat.. He reportedly got the car up to 93MPH, before hitting the hillock. When the car came down after its launch, one of the front rims disintegrated, the car went off the road, and hit a tree. The girlfriend was not impressed…she was dead.
The young man was very repentant. Did all the right things for the judge to grant leniency. The young man got a stiff fine, and lost his license for six months.
later that year he was showing another girl how the accident had happened, and he killed her too. The judge in the second case took his license for a year. This is one of the few places I would advocate “two strikes and you are out!
I know for a fact that the state of VA. does . My daughter lives there an if you are taken to court for braking driving laws you pay a fine plus court cost
Decent tires, slow down, easy with the brake and accelerator pedal, no abrupt moves with the steering wheel and did I mention slow down?
I’ve driven in every storm in maine in the last 30+ years and never been off the road. People shouldn’t need reminders every winter on how to drive.
S L O W D O W N
It’s Maine it snows, get over it.
Every year the same ole story “OMG it snowed” the roads are slippery
What’s a Honda Acura?