WILTON — A Dixfield couple were injured Thursday night after their car and a tractor-trailer collided on Route 2 during a heavy rainstorm, police said.

Dennis Rackliffe, 65, and his wife, whose name wasn’t provided, were not seriously injured, Wilton police Officer Billie Martin said. They were taken by NorthStar Ambulance to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington.

 Josh Leeman, 25, of Anson, the driver of the empty E.J. Carrier six-axle chip truck, wasn’t injured, Martin said.

The accident occurred at about 5:50 p.m. on a hill near the eastern intersection with More Acres Road.

Martin said Leeman was driving east up the hill and Rackliffe was descending west. She said she didn’t know which vehicle crossed the centerline. She commended Leeman for avoiding a head-on collision in the 55 mph zone.

“The tractor-trailer driver was saying that the car made a dramatic change in direction and he swerved to miss it,” Martin said.

Based on damage at the scene, the driver’s side of the car struck the rims of the two outside, front tires of the trailer and a rear, outside-tire rim. The impact flattened all three tires and mangled the rims.

The tractor-trailer traveled several feet parallel to and off the road shoulder before coming to rest with the cab and front part of the trailer partially in the eastbound lane.

The car came to rest sideways and just over the centerline in the westbound lane.

Wilton and East Dixfield firefighters quickly shut down Route 2, diverting traffic onto More Acres Road, which rejoins Route 2 in East Dixfield village.

The demolished car was towed from the scene. The tractor-trailer driver drove the rig farther east to a safe area where its rims and tires could be changed.

Martin said driving conditions had deteriorated due to the rainstorm.

“It was horrible,” she said of the driving.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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