HIRAM — State police said a couple from Wales were killed Monday afternoon when their motorcycle was struck by a pickup truck in Hiram, doubling the number of motorcycle-related fatalities over the long weekend. The crash occurred around 2 p.m. on Route 113.
According to a news release by Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson Stephen McCausland, Patrick Vaillancourt, 67, and his wife, Margaret, 64, were killed instantly when a pickup truck veered into their lane.
The truck driver was identified as 33-year-old Kenneth Bouffard of Hiram. He was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland with injuries not considered life-threatening, McCausland said.
“So far there is no explanation why the truck was in the wrong lane, but the Oxford (County) District Attorney’s Office will review the crash report when it is completed,” McCausland said.
The crash occurred on a slight curve and the highway was closed for four hours while troopers investigated the crash.
It was the third motorcycle accident since Saturday, bringing this year’s motorcycle fatality count to 24 — more than double the 11 motorcycle fatalities for all of 2014, McCausland said.
On Monday afternoon, just hours before the Hiram crash, 40-year-old motorcyclist Randal Goslin of Farmington, N.H., died from injuries he sustained Saturday night, McCausland said. He was hospitalized after crashing into a utility pole on Route 202 in Lebanon just after 7 p.m. Goslin was initially flown to Maine Medical Center in Portland. State troopers say speed and alcohol were factors in Goslin’s crash.
Early Saturday morning, motorcyclist Alexander Small, 21, of Richmond died on I-295 in Falmouth, McCausland said.
“Witnesses observed the male operator on a Yamaha motorcycle operating erratically at a high rate of speed in and out of traffic,” McCausland said. “Small came upon a Honda Pilot operating in the travel lane. He was unable to slow down to avoid hitting the rear bumper. Small lost control and both he and the motorcycle struck the guardrail.”
The Honda Pilot SUV was operated by Cary Phoenix, 40. Passengers were Luke Rioux, 35, and two small children, all of Portland, McCausland said.
Alcohol was not a factor with Phoenix. Blood results are pending for Small, McCausland said.
He said no charges pending for Phoenix.
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