HARTFORD — The folks of Main Street might be rejoicing about new blinking stop signs to be placed at the Route 219 intersection, but for at least one family, it’s too little and too late.

Herbert Stevens, 81, and his wife, Marilyn, 62, are living out of the kitchen and bedroom at their 1319 Main St. home, which has no running water.

In January, a SUV carrying people from Canada crashed sideways into their bathroom. On Oct. 3, a pickup truck occupied by a German couple hit a nearby telephone pole that fell into the main entrance. In both instances, drivers blew the stop sign at Main Street, which is Route 140, and Route 219.

Problems of speeding and driving through the minimally visible stop sign are common among locals and others passing through, Marilyn said weeks after the latest crash.

An SUV lies on its side Oct. 3 after it went off Route 219, broke a utility pole and smashed into the main entrance of Herbert and Marilyn Stevens’ home on Route 140 in Hartford. In February, another vehicle struck their house, heavily damaging the bathroom. The older couple has been living in the kitchen and bathroom, has no home insurance or help from the insurers for the Canadian and German drivers to make repairs, Marilyn said. Tanya Walsh photo

“They’re doing like 60 by here,” she said. “I mean, with this last one — there wasn’t even snow on the ground. Can you imagine what it’s going to be like when the snow comes again? Bang!”

Hartford Town Clerk Lianne Bedard has tried to capture the attention of the Maine Department of Transportation and local legislators about the intersection. After the Oct. 3 accident and many emails to Maine DOT, she finally got a response.

“Solar-lighted stop signs will be placed before the intersection of 219 and 140 in Hartford and hopefully this will solve the problem,” Bedard said last month. State Rep. Tammy Schmersal Burgess of Mexico was key in persuading DOT to resolve the issue, Bedard said.

Selectperson Cathy Lowe, who lives close to the Stevenses, said should the lighted stop signs not be effective, MDOT will conduct a study.

“I don’t know why the state hasn’t done something about this intersection up here,” Lowe said. “So what are they doing? Wait until a fatality happens before they step in and do something about it?”

The blinking signs were installed in mid-November, but as the Stevenses awaited the cold comfort of improved intersection signs, attorneys and contractors continue avoiding the their predicament, Marilyn said.

A corner of Herbert and Marilyn Stevens home on Main Street in Hartford is covered Wednesday, nearly a year after a vehicle slammed into it. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

The couple does not have home insurance, she said, because it is not up to code.

The drivers’ insurance companies have been unwilling to work with her, and contractors won’t even assess the damage and give estimates for repairs, she said.

Beyond insurance, legal and repair matters, local people have done next to nothing to help the couple, who continue to live without a bathroom, running water and reasonable security from the elements, Marilyn said. She and her husband can still see outside beyond the makeshift barriers they managed to erect after each crash.

“And it’s just getting cold,” Marilyn said Tuesday, several days after western Maine’s first snowstorm. “Yesterday, I went to go over to my mother’s and my legs were so cold I couldn’t get down the steps.”

When the first crash occurred, Marilyn moved in with her niece Tanya Walsh because of the damage and lack of running water.

“I only just came back,” Marilyn said in early November. “It kind of almost totally ruined my marriage.”

Left, A pickup truck rests in January after plowing into Herbert and Marilyn Stevens’ bathroom on Main Street in Hartford. Right, extensive damage in January after being struck by a truck coming off Route 219. Tanya Walsh photo

Marilyn also suffered congestive heart failure about a week after the crash. She attributed the health scare to the stress of the crashes’ aftermath and lack of help from the drivers’ auto insurance companies.

Walsh said the first crash left her aunt physically and emotionally drained.

“She was so distressed, it made her physically sick,” Walsh said. “She found out she had congestive heart failure not long after. And her husband — he’s already been through eight heart attacks and he doesn’t even remember all of what’s happened.”

Walsh said she came around after both crashes to witness the damage and to try and convince the couple to stay with her a while.

She said the crashes are only part of the issue.

“You’ve got people flying down Main Street like it’s the highway,” she said. She’s even had a motorcycle crash in her driveway. “Nothing about this intersection is safe.”

Marilyn Stevens stands Wednesday in what was once the bathroom shower before a truck plowed into her home on Main Street in Hartford. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Walsh took it upon herself to try to get help for her aunt and uncle when police and the town couldn’t do anything to help with their home situation.

“I even tried raising money in donation buckets at local stores with pictures of the accident,” Walsh said. “After three or four weeks, all we got was $120. That’s all anyone was willing to give for elderly people who lost their home.”

The Stevenses are bracing not just for the cold as winter sets in, but for the possibility that their next visitors may not be there to help, but to bring more damage.

“They’re still driving like hell,” Marilyn said Tuesday. “I pray one of these times that someone does not go sideways and land in my kitchen. Because that will kill both of us.”