BILLERICA – A driver who initially escaped a fiery crash on Route 3 north in Massachusetts was struck and killed by another car on the highway early Monday morning, police said.
Massachusetts State Police said they responded shortly after midnight to a report of a car fire with possible entrapment just off Treble Cove Road. Troopers found no one trapped in the car, but did find a critically injured pedestrian who was later pronounced dead at the scene.
“Preliminary investigation indicates that a Honda Accord crashed and caught fire,” state police said in a statement. “After the driver got out of the vehicle, a Mercedes struck them in the left lane.”
The deceased person has not yet been publicly identified, police told family members.
Route 3 north closed for hours in Billerica
Billerica police directed traffic away from the crash and Route 3 was closed until 4am. WBZ-TV saw several emergency vehicles on the scene of a damaged guardrail, a crashed car on the side of the road and a long traffic jam.
State Police Crime Scene Services and the Collision Analysis Reconstruction team responded to the crash, as did Billerica firefighters to extinguish the flames.
Earlier this year the speed limit on Route 3 between I-95 and the New Hampshire border, the speed was increased 10 miles per hour, from 60 miles per hour to 65 miles per hour. Previously, Route 3 was the only three-lane highway in the state that did not have a 60 mph speed limit.
The police cannot yet say what the cause of the accident is.
