BANGOR (AP) – A makeshift memorial of wobbly crosses and rain-soaked teddy bears rests in the median of Interstate 95 in Carmel, serving as a reminder of a Mother’s Day crash one year ago that killed three mothers and four children.

“Angels Gather Here” reads a sign placed among scattered stumps where trees were cut down to remove the wreckage of the rented sport utility vehicle that was passing two other vehicles in the breakdown lane when it went out of control, flipped over twice in the median and landed in a patch of trees.

The afternoon crash of May 9, 2004, was Maine’s worst accident on a public road in 45 years.

No one keeps track of how many people visit the impromptu memorial, or who adds what small remembrance. But Monday was different, especially for a handful of Etna firefighters who were among the first responders.

“We’re going to clean up the area, put down a new wreath – just do our thing,” Etna Fire Chief Walter Gibbons said Monday afternoon. “It will make me feel good to do that.”

Killed in the crash was the driver, Hope Gagnon, 29, and her six passengers: Gagnon’s three children, Deion Stuart, 8, T’Keyah Stuart, 6, and Ariana Stuart, 4; Kelley Armstrong, 28, and her son Kristian Smith-Armstrong, 4; and Danielle Saint Paulin, 29, who left four children without their mother. All were from South Portland.

Gibbons, one of the first to arrive at the accident scene, said the carnage remains as vivid in his mind as when he first saw it.

“For a while I slept with the light on in the bedroom to get through it,” he recalled. “The images don’t go away. If I had it to do all over again, I don’t know if I could do it.”

Joshua D’Angelo, one of 15 Maine State Police troopers to respond that day, said he has never seen anything like it in his eight years on the force.

“What stays with me the most would be the destruction,” D’Angelo said. “I’ve been to many crashes, but I’ve never been to one that was that horrific.”

Bob and Linda Armstrong, who lost their daughter and grandson that day, said they have not driven the two hours north to see the memorial. For them, it’s just too difficult.

“We had heard that a lot of people have put flowers and things there, and people said, “You have to go up there and see it,”‘ Bob Armstrong said.

“I just don’t have a desire to go and see where they died,” his wife said. “Maybe someday.”

Questions that arose after the accident focused on why an unlicensed driver was at the wheel, why she was driving so fast and what prompted her to try to pass two cars in the breakdown lane.

An autopsy confirmed that Hope Gagnon had not been drinking and had not been using drugs. Police learned that her license had been suspended for nearly six years for failure to pay traffic violation fines, but that didn’t begin to explain why she was driving 103 mph.

Some family members suggested that Gagnon’s 8-year-old son, Deion Stuart, might have been suffering from an asthma attack.

Kristian Smith-Armstrong also had asthma, his grandparents said. “We’ll never know why, but I live on the fact that there was a medical cause for them to be going that fast; I can’t conceive another reason,” Linda Armstrong said.

Friends of Hope Gagnon said the group was headed to Fort Kent to visit a man Gagnon had met on the Internet. Those rumors were never confirmed, and no one in Fort Kent came forward.

Most of the nearly 200 people who died on Maine roads in 2004 were in accidents involving excessive speed.

“With the cars that are being produced today, people have a false sense of security,” D’Angelo said. “You’re never going to stop people from speeding. What you hope to do is deter them, and we’re doing that by increased exposure.”

Bob and Linda Armstrong said that they’re glad people remember what happened to their daughter and grandson, and they hope it makes a difference.

“I’m sure it slowed people down for a while, but they forget about it. You don’t ever think anything like that can happen to you,” Bob Armstrong said.

“God, think twice before putting the pedal down, because it does, it affects so many people. Look at how many people were affected by this just in our own family,” Linda Armstrong said.