PARIS – A 69-year-old Waterford woman was killed early Tuesday in a head-on collision on Route 26 that slightly injured the other driver.

Rita Lovejoy was headed north on the highway at 5:50 a.m. in a 1999 Plymouth Breeze when for an unknown reason she crossed the center line and hit a 1997 Ford pickup truck being driven by Robert Murphy of Peru, Paris police Sgt. Michael Dailey said.

Murphy swerved to the right to avoid the crash, but was impeded from avoiding the collision by a guardrail, Dailey said. Evidence seemed to indicate that Lovejoy tried at the last minute to correct herself, and did not fall asleep at the wheel, Dailey said.

The accident happened at the northern intersection of Paris Hill Road and Route 26, just south of the Dew Drop Inn.

“There may have been some kind of medical condition involved” to explain why Lovejoy lost control, he said. Speed was not a factor, he added.

Both drivers were wearing seat belts. Lovejoy was pronounced dead at the scene, and extrication equipment had to be used to remove her from the car.

Murphy suffered facial lacerations, and was transported by PACE ambulance to Stephens Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released.

Firefighters from Paris and West Paris provided traffic control for four hours while police investigated the accident. Maine State Trooper Richard McAlister and Paris officer Zane Loper assisted Dailey at the scene, which was cleared about 10 a.m.