After responders from two neighboring communities were called 15 minutes apart to motor vehicle crashes in their respected towns, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, the Pen Bay Pilot began to keep a closer eye on possible patterns related to time and weather conditions, similar to last Saturday’s snow squall and its hourlong blitz of crashes.  

However, little pattern developed regarding the relatively few crashes and their resulting minor injuries – or less – during this week’s storm, which was forecasted to bring 4-6 inches of light, fluffy flakes to the Midcoast region through the entirety of Friday.

The first random flakes became visible around 6:30 a.m., Friday morning, followed by an obvious windswept coating of increasing snow by 8 a.m. All seemed snowstorm quiet until approximately 9:10 a.m., when a vehicle struck a pole at the intersection of Hill Street and Broadway, in Rockland, resulting in Broadway being closed to traffic between Willow and Rankin streets for pole replacement. The road was reopened just before 11 a.m.

As Rockland units were considering their individual roles complete at that scene, Thomaston fire, ambulance, and police were called, at 9:30 a.m., to a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Knox and Main streets. One person was transported to the hospital with minor injuries. 

Just prior to 11 a.m., a vehicle went off the road along the Cushing Road in Cushing, and several more vehicles would slide off various roads throughout Knox County into the evening, including at least two in St. George.

At approximately 1 p.m., two vehicles bumped into each other on Union’s Heald Highway near Common Road, causing traffic to be briefly detoured onto side streets.

At 5:45 p.m., Rockport responders were called to Commercial Street (Route 1) for what was first believed to be a two-vehicle incident, but finding only one. 

At 1:14 a.m., St. George responders were called to Spruce Head Road for a two-vehicle crash

And at 6 a.m., Lincolnville units, along with NorthEast Mobile Health, responded to Atlantic Highway near The Red Barn, for a single-vehicle rollover.