Slick roads contribute to accidents across the region Saturday.
RUMFORD – Saturday’s storm created poor driving conditions that left a Massachusetts woman in critical condition after her vehicle crashed head-on into an oncoming Jeep.
Colleen Petty, 42, of Lynn, Mass., was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston following the late afternoon crash on the Andover Road. Petty suffered head trauma and a broken arm. Emergency personnel said her injuries were serious but did not believe they were life threatening. After arriving in Lewiston, Petty’s condition was listed as critical, according to a nursing supervisor.
Driving the Jeep Cherokee was Kimberly Gautreau, 38, of Andover. She did not receive serious injuries. Neither did the three children in Petty’s vehicle, police said. The children were taken to Rumford Hospital for observation and, according to police, Petty’s two nephews were treated and released and her niece was admitted overnight.
The fronts of each vehicle were severely damaged, police said, and each was considered a total loss. Slippery road conditions contributed to the accident, Officer Douglas Maifeld said. “There was only an inch and a half of snow, but the road was greasy.”
Petty was driving a Ford Escort with her niece in the front passenger seat and her nephews in the back. The girl was wearing a seat belt, but Petty and the boys were not, Maifeld said. “It could have been a lot worse, especially with no seat belts,” he said.
The crash happened around 5 p.m. as Petty’s vehicle was rounding a sharp corner and started to slide. Police believe Petty put the breaks on, “and once she did her vehicle went straight in the path of the Jeep,” Maifeld said.
Gautreau was wearing her seat belt, and her airbag deployed when the vehicles collided. After the two vehicles crashed, Gautreau, who has medical training and suffered only scrapes on her knuckles and redness from the airbag, scrambled out of her Jeep to give medical help to Petty and the children, police said.
In other areas of the state, police were busy Saturday night scrambling from accident to accident.
Police reported slick roads from Perkins Ridge Road in Auburn to the Hogan Road in Lewiston and all corners of Androscoggin County. Accidents were more common in rural areas where roads were slushier and snow-covered compared to urban areas, where roads were mostly wet.
“We’ve got everybody off the road everywhere,” but no major injuries, said an Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher, who said all available deputies were busy responding to accident calls.
Lewiston police said they responded to one accident on the Hogan Road that involved minor injuries, but details weren’t available Saturday night. “The road conditions are poor at this time. The roads are slick,” said Lt. Tom Avery. “We’ve not seen a lot. It seems like people are staying off the roads.”
Auburn reported seven or eight crashes by 7 p.m. One accident involved minor injuries and the rest were limited to vehicle damage, said Lt. Timothy Cougle. “We had one man who left the road and crashed head-on” into a tree. The driver’s vehicle sustained significant damage, but he was not harmed, Cougle said. “Most have been vehicles sliding off the road.”
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