INDUSTRY – A driver traveling toward Farmington on Route 43 swerved to avoid a deer and struck a steep embankment instead Friday morning.

Industry and Farmington public safety workers responded to the crash around 11:20 a.m. at the bottom of Craig Hill.

April Ross, 22, of New Sharon was driving down the steep hill next to a beaver bog when a deer ran into the road. In an attempt to avoid the animal, Ross swerved right hitting loose dirt on the shoulder, according to Farmington Patrolman Ed Hastings. She then turned her wheels left to avoid going into the bog and instead ended up colliding head on with a steep embankment on the other side of the road.

A lack of skid marks in the road indicated that she did not hit the brakes.

Hastings did not believe speed was a factor in the accident. The limit on that section of road is 45 mph, he said.

Ross sustained minor injuries, bruises on her hands, probably from the airbag, said Hastings. She was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital and later released. A passenger in the car, Joshua Shipley, 24, was not injured.