Elderly woman killed in Hopkinton crash

HOPKINTON, N.H.—Police are investigating the death of an elderly driver in a head-on crash on a dangerous section of road where warning rumble strips had recently been paved over.

Edith Dockham, 76, of Henniker, was killed just after 9 p.m. Friday when a mini van driven by Edward Herman, 46, of Concord, crossed the centerline on Routes 202/9 in Hopkinton and hit her mini van, police said.

Herman and Dockham's passenger, Verne Dockham, 84, were hospitalized with serious injuries, Hopkinton Police Chief David Wheeler said.

"We are investigating speed, alcohol and/or drugs as contributing factors," Wheeler said. He said no charges had been filed as of Saturday afternoon.

The collision happened near Route 127, along a dangerous section of road where many people have been killed and injured in crashes. Police call the busy 12-mile stretch through Hopkinton, Henniker and Hillsboro "death alley."

The two-lane road is so dangerous that the state Transportation Department cut rumble strips down the center line and along both sides of the road to alert drivers when their cars drifted out of their lanes.

But the grooves disappeared this month as the state repaved the road as part of an improvement project.

"They have been repaving and relining and unfortunately, as part of that, they paved over the rumble strips that were put in a year ago," the chief said.

He said that during that year, there were no fatalities along the stretch of highway in Hopkinton.

"We had such a history of fatalities, but once the rumble strips were in, we had zero," he said.

As part of the repaving project, the Transportation Department was planning to recut the rumble strips in the next couple of weeks, Wheeler said.