A Massachusetts woman was killed after she crashed her vehicle into a disabled tractor-trailer on the Maine Turnpike on Monday afternoon.
Shortly after 3 p.m., Maine State Police said they responded to a report of a fatal crash on the Maine Turnpike southbound in York.
Their preliminary investigation indicates that a 2022 Western Star tractor-trailer was stopped with a mechanical malfunction in the breakdown lane. The driver of the tractor-trailer had placed reflective warning triangles in the breakdown lane as required.
While the tractor-trailer was stopped, a Toyota sedan, driven by 81-year-old Janice Goldsmith of Needham, Massachusetts, struck the rear of the tractor-trailer. Goldsmith was pronounced dead at the scene.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, state police said.
Traffic on the southbound side of the turnpike was reduced to one lane for approximately three hours while troopers and emergency crews worked the scene and then limited to two lanes for another two hours before fully reopening.