TRENTON, Maine — Two people were injured in a head-on crash Wednesday afternoon that temporarily shut down the only road that leads to Mount Desert Island, according to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.
The collision happened about 1:45 p.m. on Bar Harbor Road, also known as Route 3, just before Thompson Island, Deputy Travis Frost said Wednesday night in a news release.
Frost said a witness told police that Sandra Nickless-Hover, 69, of Alton, who was driving a 2013 Jeep Compass, crossed the center line and sideswiped a 2012 Ford Focus driven by Irene Murphy of Tremont, whose age was not provided.
The deputy said that Nickless-Hover’s vehicle travelled into the opposite lane into the path of a 2015 GMC Sierra pickup driven by Brian Howard of Sangerville, whose age also was not listed.
Howard said he tried swerving into the opposite lane to avoid being hit but that at the same time, Nickless-Hover corrected herself into her lane and the two vehicles collided, according to Frost.
Murphy was not injured and her vehicle was driveable, the deputy said.
Howard was taken to Maine Coast Memorial Hospital for treatment of minor neck pain, and he was later released.
Nickless-Hover initially was taken to Maine Coast Memorial Hospital but later was flown to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor for severe hip and leg injuries that were not considered life-threatening as of Wednesday night.
The crash, which remains under investigation, closed Route 3 for about three hours.
Bangor Daily News writer Abigail Curtis contributed to this report.