Opinion ID: 2262524
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: first collision

Text: On the afternoon of February 25, 1966 in the vicinity of Mile 33 of the Maine Turnpike a heavy snowstorm was in progness creating poor visibility and a slippery, snow-covered northbound lane. Mrs. George, accompanied by a passenger, upon reaching this point on her journey from Brockton, Massachusetts to Auburn, sensed that her Chrysler automobile was going into a skid and pulled over to the extreme right hand side of the road, running into the snowbank and stopping parallel to and partially in the snowbank. [2] She turned her key off, unfastened her seat belt and made ready to open her car door to ask for help when she was struck in the rear by a Chevrolet Supersport operated by Defendant Guerette. Defendant Guerette had approached the vicinity of Mile 33 on his way from Beverly, Massachusetts to Bowdoin College at about 35 miles per hour following closely enough behind another vehicle to see and follow its tail lights. This lead vehicle began to fishtail and swerve, and Defendant Guerette, after analyzing his situation, rejected the possible alternatives of attempting to stop straight in line or turning left into the median, and chose instead to pull to the right of the road into the snowbank. In the process of approaching this snowbank his car slid sideways in such a manner that he struck the rear of Mrs. George's parked Chrysler with the left middle side of his Chevrolet before coming to rest perpendicular to the roadway, his front end in the snowbank. Defendant Guerette never saw Mrs. George's all-white Chrysler until just prior to hitting it and only after he was entirely out of conrol.