NEW SHARON – Ruby Tracy’s hands trembled slightly Thursday morning as she held an ice pack on her bruised and swollen right forearm.
Debris from four vehicles was scattered along three roadways – Routes 2 and 27, Route 134 and Main Street. A tractor-trailer had left long skid marks leading up to the accident site.
“I told my husband we were going to get hit,” Tracy said as she recalled seeing the big rig coming over the hill behind them.
Five people were injured after the 9:48 a.m. accident, and three of them were taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington by NorthStar Emergency Medical Services, state police Trooper Randy Keaten said Thursday.
Tracy and her husband, Sherman Tracy, both 73 and of New Sharon, had been stopped in their 1993 Lincoln on Route 2 to make a left turn onto Route 134, known locally as Starks Road, when the eastbound tractor-trailer rear-ended the car, Keaten said.
The Tracys’ car then struck a motorcycle in the opposite lane. Driver Otto Bucking, 55, and his wife, Nancy Bucking, 51, both of Ontario, were partially knocked off the motorcycle, Keaten said.
The tractor-trailer then careered to the side and struck a pickup truck on Main Street. The pickup rolled onto its side and was pushed by the rig toward the Masonic Hall before it came to rest inches away from the building.
The driver of the pickup, Ruaine James, 58, of Industry, saw the accident coming and unbuckled his seat belt and got onto the floorboards, Keaten said, which probably saved him from serious head trauma. Firefighters cut open the truck to get a backboard in, he said. James had back and neck injuries, Keaten said.
The Buckings suffered cuts and bruises, as did the Tracys, he said. The Tracys declined to go by ambulance to the hospital, he said.
All of those taken to the hospital had been treated and released by midafternoon, Keaten said. The tractor-trailer driver was the only one who wasn’t hurt, he said.
Keaten said Clair McDonald, who was driving the rig owned by Thayne McDonald of McDonald Transport of Thorndike, told him he saw the taillights and didn’t see a turn signal on the Tracys’ car.
Keaten said he summoned McDonald for following too close.
Witnesses at the scene said McDonald was going too fast, Keaten said. McDonald started braking at the top of the hill and left skid marks, he said.
Keaten estimated damage to the vehicles at $5,000 to the Lincoln, $1,000 to the Yamaha motorcycle, $7,000 to the pickup truck and $3,000 to the tractor-trailer.
While recounting the accident at the scene afterward, Ruby Tracy stood with her daughter, Diana Bell of Farmington, while they waited for Sherman Tracy to cross Route 2 after removing items from the car before it was towed. Bell had already hugged her mother, and when her father came across the road, she put her arms around him and gave him a hug too.
Ruby Tracy said she was a “little bit scared” when the accident occurred. “They need to put stoplights there,” she said, rather than a flashing beacon. “Enough people have almost been killed.”
A couple of bad accidents happened in the area several years ago, including one that almost killed former New Sharon Fire Rescue Chief David Grant.
However, Department of Transportation traffic engineer Brian Keezer said Thursday that the intersection is not on the state’s list of dangerous intersections. Thursday was the first time the intersection had been brought to his attention in the three years he has served the area, Keezer said.
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