Crash near road construction sends one to hospital

1 min read

PHILLIPS – A Canaan woman was transported to Franklin Memorial Hospital this morning, after her vehicle was struck head-on on Route 4 by a driver that reportedly did not follow the instructions of a road construction flagger.

At roughly 8:17 a.m. this morning, a grey Ford pickup truck operated by Bruce Wilcox, 83 of Phillips, was traveling south on Route 4 near the Phillips Elementary School. As Wilcox passed through a construction zone, he reportedly failed to return to his lane despite being instructed to do so by a flagger. The pickup truck Wilcox was operating struck two other vehicles traveling north on Route 4.

Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Brad Scovil and Sgt. Nathan Bean responded to the scene, along with Phillips Fire Department and NorthStar EMS. The operator of the gold Chrysler that was initially struck, Lillian Harvey, 61 of Canaan, was transported to FMH by NorthStar EMS with non-life threatening injuries. The operator of the second vehicle that was struck, a silver Chevrolet pickup truck, and his four passengers was not hurt in the crash.

Both Wilcox’s truck and Harvey’s vehicle were towed from the scene.

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13 Comments

  1. I would like to say that nearly EVERY DAY going through these construction zones I have had some sort of incident with the flaggers not properly directing traffic. I think that there is some serious issues there and I can understand how someone can be confused. What I have seen is some serious “zoning out” Flaggers. I am very nervous going through for myself, and scared for the workers that the traffic directing should be protecting.

  2. Construction is all along route 4 through Strong and up to Phillips. Be cautious drivers!!

  3. Just a general note about non life threatening injuries. They can still be life altering.

  4. I hope I have the common sense to know recognize my limitations as I get older. Too many elderly drivers are just not safe to be behind the wheel (many are), but we all need to face reality no matter how much our pride may hurt.

    I hope Lillian Harvey’s life is not unduly altered by this.

  5. Thats awful. To bad they don’t open cat lumber road, i know thats not where accident happened, but it would save tons of money, and tons of hrs waiting. If there is a way around, why don’t we use it?

  6. Why don’t we use the cat lumber rd.? Did the town people vote on this? If so I think we should start a petition 2 reopen this rd. It makes no sense why it was closed.

  7. Christopher – perhaps the road was decommissioned? If someone owns the land at the end, and is maintaining it themselves, then a lot of times it becomes private property that the town doesn’t have to pay to maintain any longer. You want to re-open a road that hasn’t been maintained in long enough that they’ll have to repave it first, to avoid a little inconvenience going around the Elbow? It’ll be done soon enough. The people that live down there probably petitioned to have it closed!

    What makes people so sure that a flagger made a mistake? Don’t think an 83 year old driver possibly could? Story says he drove RIGHT INTO the other cars – doesn’t seem like something a flagger could get you to do… I go thru there frequently and they have been doing a good job, although any project like this is going to be frustrating.

  8. Chandler road is still owned and maintain by the Town of Strong, Just closed to through traffic which makes it a dead end street

  9. The people who live on the road petitioned years ago to have it closed because so many people thought they were still on rt. 4 and didnt want to slow down. It was a safety concern for them and their kids.

  10. Saftey concern. Put a police man there for speeders, people swim, walk and bike on the corner too. Plus i dont get paid sitting in traffic however many times i need to go to the lumber store, big rigs sitting, buses sitting. seems like closing a rd is a waste. But if, Town has that right, its their vote:(

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