Blaming the victim - cigarette hit for two crashes in Maine

The Portland Press Herald headlined it "Cigarette leads to Turnpike traffic woes." The poor cigarette was being stomped on.

The cigarette smoking driver Melissa Hernandez, 42 of Weymouth MA was so busy extinguishing her cigarette Sunday afternoon she neglected her driving and ran off the Maine Turnpike into a fence.

She told police she was distracted by the cigarette.

Then with the police at the scene near Seco and lots of flashing lights three passing cars managed to get into a collision. The drivers said they were distracted by the accident scene and banged into one another.

So the cigarette got blamed for two collisions and four beat-up cars.

No one was seriously injured but the wrecks caused huge backups. Sundays and Maine's perfect late summer weather make for heavy traffic anyway so any lane blockage quickly stops traffic and the queues extend.

TOLLROADSnews 2008-08-17