Madawaska Crash Victim Identified
Reported By Jen Lynds
Bangor Daily News Staff
3/25/10
MADAWASKA, Maine — Police on Wednesday released the name of a local man killed late Tuesday afternoon when the truck that he was driving collided with a tractor-trailer. The crash occurred on a slush-covered section of U.S. Route 1 in the St. David section of town. Police Chief Ron Pelletier said Gabriel Lilly, 23, was killed after he lost control of his vehicle shortly before 3:30 p.m. about a quarter-mile from the Grand Isle town line. Lilly was traveling east toward Van Buren when he veered out of control while attempting to pass a tractor-trailer. The pickup then spun around and ended up sideways in the path of another oncoming tractor-trailer, which struck the driver’s side of the pickup, the chief said. The tractor-trailer, owned by Dysart’s Transportation, was driven by Charles McLellan. He was not injured. Lilly was traveling alone and it was not clear whether he was wearing a seat belt. Hydraulic extrication equipment was used to remove him from the wreckage. Lilly was taken to Edmundston (New Brunswick) Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Pelletier said.
The posted speed limit on the road was 55 mph, but the roads were slushy at the time, Pelletier said. He said Wednesday that Lilly was driving too fast for the road conditions. The victim’s name had been withheld until Wednesday pending notification of family.
Even in cases where accidents are caused by slippery road conditions, it is sometimes possible to recover under negligence or product defect theories. In terms of negligence, the driver may have been going too fast or not driving attentively enough for the conditions. Sometimes there are issues in terms of vehicle maintenance–brakes, tire tread, tire pressure, etc. Finally, there have been technologies available for more than 10 years which assist a driver in maintaining control on slippery surfaces. The most common technologies are anti-lock brakes and electronic stability control. ABS brakes allow a driver to maintain control under braking conditions. ESC automatically senses the slipping wheels and selectively applies braking and throttle to prevent a loss of control. Beyond that, there are sometimes “crashworthiness” claims where injuries or deaths could have been prevented with a safer vehicle design. Examples of crashworthiness claims include unlatching or seatbelt failure, failure of the airbags to deploy or deploying under conditions when they should not have deployed, roof crush, fuel fed fire, etc. Unlike most personal injury firms which only consider negligent driving claims, at Berman & Simmons, we have the resources and expertise to evaluate all possible types of claims arising out of a severe and catastrophic vehicle-related injury. Give us a call at 1-800-244-3576 or visit our website at www.bermansimmons.com to learn more about us and how we might help you.