A Lincoln MKS flipped onto its roof and blocked the left lane of Route 101 westbound in Raymond, New Hampshire, Sunday evening after blinding sun glare set off two separate chain-reaction crashes within minutes of each other near Exit 5. One driver was freed from the overturned car with help from bystanders and taken to the hospital with injuries described as non-life-threatening, while a second crash involving two other vehicles left no one hurt.
According to Newport Dispatch, state troopers from the Troop A barracks responded to the four-vehicle crash at 5:48 p.m. Sunday, though Boston 25 News reported troopers said they responded shortly before 6 p.m. A preliminary investigation found that westbound traffic had slowed drastically and then stopped suddenly because solar glare was impeding drivers' visibility, per the same account from Newport Dispatch.
Investigators say the Lincoln MKS driver failed to slow down in time and struck the back of a Ford Expedition, setting off a chain-reaction crash that pulled in a Toyota RAV4 and a Hyundai Veloster. When the dust settled, the Lincoln was found upside down across the left lane with extensive damage, the Expedition was pinned against the guardrail in the breakdown lane with heavy damage to its driver-side rear and passenger-side front, the RAV4 sat ahead of it in the breakdown lane with heavy damage to its driver-side rear, and the Veloster ended up behind the Lincoln in the median with only minor damage, according to the NBC Boston report.
Good Samaritans Pull Trapped Driver From Overturned Lincoln
The crash included a rollover with entrapment, and the Lincoln's driver was pulled from the wreckage with help from good Samaritans at the scene before being taken to an area hospital for evaluation and treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, the newportdispatch.com report states. Traffic behind the pileup was diverted off Exit 5 as crews worked to clear the roadway.
Not far ahead on the same stretch of highway, and around the same time, a second crash unfolded under the same blinding conditions. A Honda Pilot SUV collided with the back end of a Ford Focus sedan that had already slowed because of the intense solar glare, the outlet reported. No injuries were reported in that crash, and both vehicles were towed from the scene.
Highway Closed For About an Hour
Route 101 westbound was shut down at Exit 5 for approximately an hour while troopers investigated both crashes and crews cleaned up debris, per the same Newport Dispatch account. The closure capped a chaotic stretch of road for drivers heading home at the end of the weekend.
Sunday's crashes echo a pattern that has shown up elsewhere on Route 101. In Epping, a crash occurred Thursday morning, WMUR reported. WMUR has separately reported on other multi-vehicle accidents that shut down lanes on Route 101 in Raymond between Exits 4 and 5 for hours.
A study referenced by ScienceDirect discusses glare-related intersection crashes, including patterns by direction and time of year.
