Drivers avoid injury in head-on crash

Joshua Archer, Special to The County
7 years ago

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Treacherous road conditions resulted in multiple vehicle accidents on U.S. Route 1 north of Presque Isle Monday afternoon, March 27.

Presque Isle Police responded to an accident on the Caribou Road at approximately 5:20 p.m. Monday.

40-year-old Amanda Hodde of Caribou was northbound on U.S. Route 1 when she lost control of her Chevy Trailblazer due to slippery conditions and crossed the center line striking a Chevy Cobalt operated by 29-year-old Joshua Soucy of Woodland.

No injuries were reported.

The head-on collision resulted in a fire in the Cobalt’s engine compartment. Presque Isle Fire Department was on scene and extinguished the fire. The car is a total loss.

A second accident occurred while U.S. Rt. 1 was shut down for about an hour. A “minor fender bender” was the result of a vehicle traveling too fast for conditions and striking a vehicle waiting in the roadway for the first accident to clear. No injuries were reported, according to patrol officer Kevin Reed.

A third accident occurred near the radio station on the Caribou road between a tractor-trailer truck and two other cars. There were no injuries.

We had about a half-hour window where the sun was up and Route 1 was wet but not iced and then the sun went down beyond the horizon, things cooled down just enough with a little bit of flurries to cause it to be just like a sheet of glass out there and people were unsuspecting not realizing how slippery it was,” Reed said.

Crown Ambulance and Caribou Police Department assisted at the scene.