CARTHAGE – A Route 2 driver escaped injury on Tuesday afternoon after police say he fell asleep while ascending Morrison Hill.

Gary A. Robinson, 75, of Milo, was headed west in a 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis when the car veered off the highway at Winter Hill Road and into the side of a guardrail concealed by a snowbank, Dixfield police Chief Richard A. Pickett said.

The car, which had extensive front-end damage, vaulted the bank and traveled several feet along the guardrail, landing in deep snow but well short of a gully.

“He told me he fell asleep and woke up when his car hit the snow and he heard a bang,” Pickett said. “Of course, at that time, all he could do was hang on. Luckily, he went to the right of the guardrail. If he had hit the guardrail head-on, especially on the driver’s side, this could have been a fatal.”

East Dixfield and Dixfield firefighters responded to the 911 call for help, as did Med-Care Ambulance, but because the accident happened in Carthage, East Dixfield firefighters, who are closer than Carthage firefighters, handled the scene and traffic control.

The accident was initially thought to be on the Dixfield side of Morrison Hill.

State police from the Skowhegan barracks are handling the accident since it happened in Franklin County, but Pickett did an initial investigation until a trooper could arrive.

He estimated damage at $8,000 to $10,000 to the Mercury, which was towed.