Police in Wilton and Lyndeborough responded to crashes on Route 31 on Thursday morning, as snowy conditions led to slick roadways.
“That side of Route 31 is always treacherous,” Lyndeborough Police Chief Rance Deware said in an interview Thursday morning. “Especially in the S-curves in that Old Temple Road area. It’s in the pines and there’s no sun that hits that roadway.”
Wilton police responded at about 7:30 a.m. to a vehicle on Route 31 near Burton Highway which had crashed through the guardrail and landed in Stony Brook.
The car, driven by a woman with a teenaged passenger, was traveling south when it lost control, Wilton Police Chief Eric Olesen said in an interview Thursday morning. Olesen said speed and road conditions were factors in the crash.
Olsesen said the water in the brook was about chest deep, and the vehicle landed on its wheels.
The driver appeared to be panicked and unable to exit the vehicle on her own, Olesen said. A worker from Asplundh Tree Experts had witnessed the crash, and entered the water to assist her with getting out of the vehicle.
Both the driver and the passenger were taken to Monadnock Community Hospital by Wilton Ambulance to be checked, but Olesen said they did not appear to be seriously injured.
The vehicle was towed from the scene.
Lyndeborough police responded to Route 31 at 8:57 a.m., for a vehicle that had left the road and crashed into a tree.
Alec Lupiani, 23, of Wilton, was driving south on Route 31, just south of Temple Road, when he lost control of his 2006 Suburu Impreza, Deware said. He failed to follow a left-turning curve, and went over the embankment and hit a tree.
Lupiani had minor injuries and was treated at the scene by ambulance personnel, but declined to be taken to a hospital, Deware said. His car was totaled.
Deware said Lupiani was likely traveling too fast for the road conditions, and had recently moved to the area from Las Vegas, Nevada, and had not had previous experience driving in the snow.
“Based on his speed and experience, he wasn’t able to slow down and maintain control of the vehicle on the curve,” Deware said.
Lyndeborough police also responded to a vehicle off the road, also on Route 31, about an hour later at 8:57 a.m. Keith Larame of Enfield, Connecticut, had gone off the road just south of the other Route 31 crash. Police and members of the Fire Department were able to pull the 2005 Toyota Scion back onto the road.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.