STODDARD, N.H. (AP) – A stretch of Route 9 where three motorcyclists died last week on their way to Motorcycle Week in Laconia has been the scene of several deadly accidents since guardrails were installed in 1999, local officials said.

Last October, a Stoddard woman was killed in a crash near the intersection of Route 123. In 2003, a Maine man, a Hooksett man and a New Jersey teenager died in separate crashes near the Stoddard-Antrim town line.

“There’s been a lot of accidents on that stretch,” police Chief David Vaillancourt said. “But I think that’s just because of the volume of traffic that goes through there. … It’s always been an operator-friendly roadway. There are no major hazards or anything.”

Fire Chief Patricia Lamothe disagreed. She said the road has always been dangerous, but the state’s decision to install guardrails made it worse. She also cited a lack of warning signs about upcoming curves.

“First of all, people go too fast,” she said. “But since they put new guardrails in, there’s no room for people to move anymore. If someone crosses the line, the vehicle in the next lane can’t avoid them because there’s nowhere to go.”

Dean Stoddard, of Easthampton, Mass., said that when a Jeep flipped in front of him last Friday he saw no way to avoid a crash. He swerved to the side and went into a controlled fall; although he hit the Jeep, he escaped with only minor injuries.

Stoddard’s good friend, Christopher Fontaine, 40, of Chicopee, Mass., died almost instantly after hitting a guardrail. Steven Leamy, 38, of East Windsor, Conn., and Larry McFetridge, 54, of Bristol, Conn., also died, and another man remains at Dartmouth-Hitchock Medical Center in fair condition.

“That piece of highway there, that’s a deathtrap,” Stoddard said of the curve near the Antrim town line. “There’s guardrails on both sides. There’s no breakdown lanes. There’s just no place to go.”

Doug Graham, district engineer for the state Department of Transportation, said guardrails are only installed “where it’s absolutely needed.”

“The purpose of a guardrail is to protect people from a hazard of some sort,” he said. “If we don’t have a guardrail there, then they’re off the road and into something potentially more dangerous.”

State police said last Friday’s crash began when one motorcyclist crossed the center line. The driver of the Jeep, Deborah Huston, 51, of Bowdoinham, Maine, swerved to avoid it and lost control of her vehicle. The Jeep hit the motorcycle and then flipped, hitting three more.