HAVERHILL — Police said their investigation into the crash of a car operated by a student driver shows the road was slippery when the Toyota went out of control.
The collision with the plow blade of a pickup truck left the driving instructor in critical condition. It has kicked off an investigation by the Registry of Motor Vehicles, a Registry spokeswoman said yesterday.
Initially, police said they believed Haverhill streets were safe to drive on after Saturday's snowfall. However, yesterday Deputy Chief Donald Thompson said a subsequent investigation by local and state police shows Amesbury Line Road was slippery when the crash occurred there at 12:05 p.m. Saturday.
Ann Dufresne, spokeswoman for the Registry of Motor Vehicles, said the Registry will assign an inspector to compile a report about the crash, which happened near the entrance to Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School. The investigation includes questions such as whether the car had an operable dual braking system that would allow an instructor to apply the brakes in an emergency while a student was driving, and whether the tires had sufficient tread, Dufresne said.
"Our duty concerns the suitability and safety of the vehicle," she said. "In the past five years, we have not had a serious crash involving a student driver."
The Registry licenses and oversees driving instructors and the schools that employ them. Dufresne said the state does not have any regulations regarding the weather conditions in which student drivers should be on the road. It's up to the individual driving school to make that decision, she said.
The Toyota in which the 16-year-old female student and instructor were traveling has been impounded, Thompson said. It collided with the plow on a Ford pickup truck traveling in the opposite direction, police said.
The driving instructor, Keith Levesque, 37, of 14 Avon Ave., Methuen, remains in critical condition at Tufts New England Medical Center. He is an instructor for MV Auto School, 44 Merrimack St., Haverhill.
When reached by The Eagle-Tribune on Monday, school owner Steve Hoffman declined to comment. The newspaper left a phone message for him yesterday, but he did not return the call.
The investigation by state and local police continues, police said. No charges have been filed, they said.
The pickup truck was driven by Michael Sullivan, 57, of Haverhill, police said. The student and Sullivan suffered relatively minor injuries, police said. They said all three people involved in the crash wore seat belts.
Nancy White, co-owner of Country Driving School in Newburyport, said she canceled three driving lessons with students on Saturday because of the snow.
"I think there are times when they shouldn't be out there," she said of younger drivers. "They don't have the experience. ... I would rather err on the side of caution."
White said her school has operated since 1968. She said she recommends that young drivers practice driving in snow in a secure parking lot, where there are no other moving vehicles with which to collide.
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