Cars May Be New Enemy At Gettysburg Battlefield
Record Year For Crashes At Gettysburg
POSTED: 5:00 pm EDT May 18,
2004
UPDATED: 3:23 pm EDT May 19,
2004
GETTYSBURG, Pa. -- Monuments on Gettysburg's battlefields have become targets.
More motorists have crashed monuments this year than any year before.
A week ago, the 58th New York Infantry Monument was struck by a blue Mazda after the driver lost control of her car.The head-on collision along East Howard Avenue not only totaled the car, it rotated the base of the monument."She hit this thing hard," park ranger Rick Pearce said. "In fact, the air bags deployed."The driver fractured her ankle and received a ticket.Repositioning the base of the monument may not be easy.Engineers may have to take it apart before putting it back the way it was. Damage is estimated at $20,000.It was the second monument accident in two days. The previous day, a school bus backed over a granite marker on Reynolds AvenueThose who work in the Park Service repair shop are experts at restoring damaged monuments, but the last year has been very busy.The Park Service estimates at least six monuments have been damaged by vehicles.The Park Service hopes to recoup the cost of monument repairs from drivers' insurance companies.Still, the Park Service is urging motorists who drive by the monuments to slow down.The speed limit in the Gettysburg National Park is 25 mph.
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Previous Stories:
- March 4, 2004: Pickup Truck Crashes Into Gettysburg Monument
- November 13, 2003: Car Crash Totals Civil War Monument In Gettysburg
- October 22, 2003: Car Takes Out Civil War Cannon
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