ENFIELD, Maine — A Passadumkeag man who was hit by a pickup truck on U.S. Route 2 while walking to the store with two other people on Sunday afternoon died at the hospital, according to the Maine State Police.
Aaron Laws, 34, was walking with friends at around 4:30 p.m. about a quarter-mile north of the Route 155 intersection when he was struck by a red Dodge 1500 pickup truck driven by Howland resident Arthur LePlant, 58, state police Trooper Larry Anderson said Monday.
“He was just walking his bike with two other people,” Anderson said. “He was on the outside.”
The two eyewitnesses were not injured, the trooper said.
Laws was taken by ambulance to Penobscot Valley Hospital in Lincoln, where he was pronounced dead, Anderson said.
State police had volunteer firefighters block both lanes of Route 2 for several hours afterward so that Anderson, the accident’s investigator, could reconstruct the scene.
“It’s still under investigation,” the trooper said, adding that no charges have been filed.
The fact that it was dark out and Laws was wearing dark clothing are contributing factors in the deadly collision, Anderson said.
I feel sorry for everyone involved in this tragic accident. Please people if you are walking in the dark wear reflective clothing and walk facing traffic. This accident did not have to happen, it is very hard for drivers to see people walking in the dark.
Good advise and bring a flashlight and never walk side by side if you can’t be 4 feet off the hot top on a shoulder.
Very sad for all.
Rest in peace Aaron… Blessings to your family and your little girl in this horrific time. :( Blessings also to the gentleman driving the pickup… :(
How old is his daughter?
I’m not sure…under 10???
Sent from my U.S. Cellular® Android-powered device
Many pedestrians are being injured and killed in Maine. Look at what the Environmental Working Group has to say about the “Mean Streets of Maine”:
This report refers to Maine over the past 10 years.
Environmental Working Group,Washington DC:
‘Numerous ]Maine ] Pedestrians Are Killed Each Year by Automobiles’
Approximately 19 pedestrians die every year in Maine after being hit by cars. This is a significant public health and safety problem
“‘ [Maine] Highway Safety Money Is Not Being Used To Protect Pedestrians'”
“‘..none of the Maine’s federal highway safety funds were spent on pedestrian safety in the state during that time. Instead, all of this money was spent on automotive safety “improvements” ….Traffic safety features are designed to allow drivers to move at higher speeds which often makes the roads even less safe for [Maine] pedestrians.””
http://www.ewg.org/node/20545
There also should be a degree of common sense here for pedestrians to understand the dangers of walking alongside a road at night in dark clothing.
Granted, many politicians would rather regulate than educate, so instead of making people aware to the dangers of walking alongside a busy road after dark, in dark clothing, we need to make them victims, demonize drivers for using highways/roads for what they were designed to do, and make more laws and bureaucracy for the sake of stupidity and lack of common sense.
Those bright new headlights on that truck should have given enough light for the driver to see these people walking on the side of the road!
wrong.
you must not drive around much after dark . i have seen countless people that wear dark-nonreflective clothes after dark- you can not see these people on the side of the road until you are right on top of them most times.
I have driven company vehicles for over 30 years and so have been trained to be more aware of our surroundings while driving and taught to wear reflective clothes all day especially at night. it only takes an instant to come up on some one at night and you don’t always have as much time to react. Your average driver doesn’t have that much training and loses awareness the longer they drive.
It seems that anyone out for a walk at night or poor visibility conditions should take some responsibility to be seen if they are going to be in high traffic areas. I mean you are making an assumption you can be seen why not make the most of that and wear some light colored clothes or reflective wear.
On the other hand most bicycles have reflectors on them so it seems strange that was not seen.
Actually I don’t drive much at night, but I have encountered vehicles at night that have those new bright headlights and it seems that you could see for miles with them! I am not saying that is what happened or whatever..I was just making a statement as did you!! You are correct, the bicycle has reflectors, he was not wearing that dark of clothes..he was wearing a light blue jacket with white gloves, and one of the others that was walking with him was wearing a red jacket! I am not putting blame on either or!! And as I was told at the accident scene that the driver swerved over the white line, no not trying to pin blame on the driver, but you seemed to have wanted to jump all over me about my previous post…so just thought I would contribute what I found out at the accident scene!
These ‘bright new headlights’ aren’t some amazing new invention allowing you to see significantly more than before. Basically the area that you already see with the more common style of headlights is all that you see with the new ones, its just a little brighter.
Even if you are wearing light clothing after dark, if its just fleece, nylon, or polyester without any reflective material, it doesn’t matter how bright your headlights are you will not see them from far away. Also, light blue and white in the winter time isn’t exactly something safe to be wearing.
You obviously do not venture out after dark. I drive along rural roads to get home after work and its pretty common to see pedestrians walking along the road. Those wearing reflective clothing or carrying a light of some fashion I can see them as soon as my headlights hit them. Others are in very dark clothing, and its difficult to see them until you come up very close–and even going 25 or 30 its hard not to pop right up on them. At times the only thing giving them away is a logo on their sneakers that happens to have reflective material on it.
Bright headlights or not, its a very poor decision to walk on unlit roads with dark clothing after dark.
Yes, and in my 25 years of driving, I can’t even count the number of times I’ve passed someone walking along the side of a dark road, with traffic, wearing dark clothes and thinking “wow, if I had looked away for one second, I could have hit them!” Now I don’t know if this guy was walking with or against traffic, but it sounds as if several poor choices were made that night that may have contributed to this awful accident. It’s very sad.
I agree. But something has changed about the roads too. There are pedestrians obeying the laws, not wearing dark clothes and they are getting whacked too.
Common sense would dictate that one wouldn’t hit a pedestrian on a public right-of-way.
Common sense would also dictate not wearing dark clothing after dark.
Skowhegan – I’m with you. I’m just getting tired of trying to bring some attention to the matter of dangerous drivers. Everyone on here seems to think that drivers have some God-given right to the road and that pedestrians and cyclists are the cause of each and every crash. It’s exhausting. Let’s wait and see if the BDN publishes the results of this investigation. They won’t. And drivers will continue to kill people.
It’s utterly unacceptable and thoroughly disheartening.
Just you wait and see how many folks on here ‘dislike’ my post and defend motorists, denigrate non-motorists. All because they’re in love with their cars.
My thoughts and prayers to the victim and the driver.
I do not know about recent years however, Maine DOT has been given hundreds of thousands of Federal dollars over the past 15 years TO SPECIFICALLY MAKE MAINE ROADS SAFER FOR PEDESTRIANS.
Maine DOT misspent the money instead , spent it on making Maine roads easier to go faster…Now we have pedestrians being killed.Some pedestrians using bad judgment,most pedestrians innocent.
Corina or Corrina,one of those Maine towns that begin with C, one young girl was killed when a vehicle drove on the sidewalk and hit her.
EWG is my source.
Just saying.
These guys (the peds) obviously weren’t making an intelligent decision by walking w/o reflective clothing at night. But most roads in Maine are specifically designed for speed, not for any alternative mode of travel. Have you seen the site in Google streetview? The site seems to be 0.18 north of Rte. 115. Just look at the width of that road! Designed for 70mph, not the posted 45mph.
I have talked to old timers from the 40s,50s. They say drivers rarely went much faster than 15-30mph,except on highways
Those speeds sound .dumb today,but wasnt life in the US better in those decades
You must have been a witness to be able to assess the blame already. How does that make you any better than those that in “knee jerk” reaction blame “non-motorists”? I drive back roads home. Tonight I saw snow mounds in the road from a snow blower and first reaction was a jerk was blowing snow in the road. Glad my second reaction was someone was not done snowblowing yet. The guy was in my lane cleaning out his snowblower chute in the middle of my lane in dark clothes. There wasn’t even an outside light on even though I know from driving the route everyday that he has them. There are safe drivers and safe people on foot. What is with you agenda against drivers? Has a personal experience to settle?
Very sad. Makes me wonder though were they walking 3 wide (plus bikes)? “He was just walking his bike with two other people,” Anderson said. “He was on the outside.”
You know a young man, son,brother, father,ect has lost his life and you all find the need to place blame. The Gentleman driving has to live with this everyday also. Stop placing blame and pray for these families this is a terrible accident… My heart goes out to Leo and Laura and all. Lisa
WABI reports: …”It appears the truck drifted slightly into the breakdown lane.” Breakdown lanes are not for driving.
If he was drifting to the breakdown lane he would have hit more than one person. Think about it.
I am thinking about it. … Still possible. Stop being so defensive of your pal. I’m quoting the police.
….
Are you allowed to fill us all in, then?
I happen to know the driver. He didn’t swirve into the breakdown lane and considering cars had just went by he couldn’t put his highbeams on. And its funny how the person who wrote this has the wrong age of Arthur, shows how accurate their information is. These stories always make the driver look bad. All three guys should have been wearing lighter colors. This situation could have been easily stopped. People walking need to realize the risks of walking both during the day and night.
WABI reports otherwise. Take it up with them.
…
How can the news make this situation worse than it is? Someone passed away from this horrific accident I don’t think the news made it sound worse than it was, you cant get no worse than death!
……..
Not even close. That’s in Lincoln. This accident was actually in Enfield on Route 2
Is this about the location of the crash?
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=ENFIELD,+Maine&hl=en&ll=45.240871,-68.63318&spn=0.009549,0.010343&sll=45.604911,-68.882904&sspn=0.188308,0.512238&hnear=Enfield,+Penobscot,+Maine&t=m&z=15&layer=c&cbll=45.240871,-68.641395&panoid=TH4cMrsm2QnCb7kj7-5uGg&cbp=12,18.34,,0,3.74
Yup. Not too far from there.
Last week I came upon a man walking on the centerline of the road just south of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge at 5:30 pm. It was dark, drizzling and he was dressed completely in black clothes. Even with my high beams on I did not see him until he was within 10 feet of my car. The logging truck following behind me had to swerve into the breakdown lane to avoid hitting him.
had the same thing happen to me no streetlights and i was goin along and then i just happen to see black object move and it was a walker wearing black clothes and walking in the street due to no sidewalks i thank god for good eye sight prayers to his family and to the driver
Have you seen older folk (no disrespect) in Enfield drive? I pass through a lot and don’t typically people speed. It is really hard to see people at night when they are
not wearing something reflective. But when they do it lights right up. Amazingly effective! Be safe everyone.
I like how people get on here and start saying “oh don’t blame the driver”, “don’t blame the walker”, do blame the driver”, “do blame the walker”!!! People need to stop and think for a minute!! It was an ACCIDENT!! Stop and think..a little 8 year old girl lost her daddy, a mother and father lost their son, sisters and brothers lost their brother, friends lost their friend, the driver probably lost his will to drive again, there is so much that has been lost here!! So stop pointing and pinning blame on either the walker or the driver….start sending out well wishes to Aaron’s family and friends, send out well wishes to the driver of the pickup!!! I am sure that Aaron’s family and friends are reading all of these comments, I am sure that possibly the driver and the driver’s family and friends are reading these comments…so have a heart…wish them all well!! This is what is wrong with the world today….too many people just don’t have a heart!!! What if it were your family member or friend? Take a minute and think before you write!!! And always remember, no matter what, tell your loved ones how much they mean to you and how much you love them because you never know what tomorrow holds, you never know what the next hour, minute, or second holds!!
Yes, it was an accident, but a preventable one. If you are out walking at night, its inexcusable to not either have a light source of some sort on you or your bicycle or reflective material on a large portion of your body–jacket, hat…something that gives you away after dark. As for drivers, especially in the winter time from 4pm on, you need to very aware of people who refuse to understand the dangers of wearing dark clothing after dark. I am not passing blame onto the pedestrians, as drivers can be a problem too if they are not paying attention, but we always hear about pedestrian and bicycle rights–all those signs for ‘Share the Road’. Fine. Share the road, but do your part and wear reflective clothing. You cannot ask drivers for 100% and hold no accountability for pedestrians who fail to do their part and wear reflective material on a large part of their body or have some sort of light to give them away. Otherwise, its begging for an accident.
Probably shouldn’t be reading the BDN online comments if your loved ones have been the victim of a car crash. I, for one, am sick of seeing people immediately blame the victim, the pedestrian. Motorists need to take responsibility for the SCORES of deaths they cause each year. THIS IS NOT OKAY, folks. And I intend to keep talking about it whether you think it’s offensive or not. My thoughts and prayers are with the victim’s family, and with the driver, but if we can’t have a conversation about dangerous driving habits (e.g. driving in the breakdown lane) after vehicular crashes, then when can we??
And I am sick of people blaming the driver. Both were in some degree of fault. The pedestrian should have been wearing more reflective clothing and the driver should have most likely either been going slower or paying more attention. But, the pedestrian is not 100% innocent here. Its insanity to not wear some sort of reflective clothing when walking alongside a road after dark. Drivers don’t have night vision and cannot see people who blend in with the darkness. Sorry, the pedestrian isn’t completely innocent here.
Brandy and family.. youre in my thoughts and prayers. RIP Aaron.
This poor man couldn’t seem to catch a break. His Facebook page posts talk of looking for love, having survived 2 serious car accidents (one in which he was intubated), comments about God having a plan for him to take his own life, and the want for a family “some day before I die”. How ironic and heartbreaking that his life was cut short so early. My thoughts are with his little girl and family.
You guys are only seeming to think about Aaron’s family. Yes its sad but think about how Arthur’s feeling. Its not easy for either family. Considering I’m Arthurs stepdaughter, I know how it is and I can tell you its not easy. And I know the real story not what the media is telling all of you..
Seriously you just wrote that??!! REALLY!! Think about what you wrote for a minute..weigh out the negatives in that one little statement that you just wrote!!! Aaron’s family and friends will never get to see his face again, will never get to hear his voice again, will never get to hug him again. No I am not blaming the driver by any means..but his family will get to see him again, will get to hear his voice again, will get to hug him again!! So really think about what you just wrote…and hey…while you’re at it think about how his little 8 year old daughter is handling this!! I am family members with the other 2 that were walking with him..and got the whole story once I arrived at the scene! My family member told me when he turned around..he saw the truck cross the white line and was coming towards them..and by the time he turned back around it was too late…mind you again…I am not blaming the driver at all…my heart breaks for him to have to go through this horrible thing…but really stop and think about what you just wrote about you guys are only seeming to think of Aaron’s family..how would you feel if it were your family member or close friend that this happened to…I bet you wouldn’t be saying..oh you guys are only thinking of the driver!!! I was very close friends with Aaron…and we will never get to see him again..never get to hear his voice again..never get to hear him talk with his daughter and have great laughing sessions with her…so please stop and think next time you decide to get on a public forum and express your opinion!!