Woman who drove over freshly painted street lines ordered to reimburse city
Jul. 21—NEWBURYPORT — A Groveland woman was ordered to pay the city more than $2,000 in damages after police say she drove over freshly painted lines on High Street in May 2021, according to Newburyport District Court records.
Arlene Barbaro, 63, of Salem Street admitted on Monday that a judge or jury could find her guilty of negligent operation of a motor vehicle and driving on a road closed to traffic. A wanton destruction of property charge over $1,200 filed by local police was ultimately dismissed.
While Barbaro escaped jail time, Judge Peter Doyle ordered her to reimburse the city $2,017 and pay $300 in fees and fines.
High Street was closed to traffic on May, 6, 2021, between Tyng Street and Olive Street so that fresh street lines could be painted.
In addition to a police officer at both ends of the closure, there was a 12-foot-tall electric highway sign notifying motorists of the road closure. There were also four large orange barrels completely across the roadway at both points. Inside the closed-off area were several trucks and a line painting machine, according to Officer Kevin Martin's report.
Despite all those warning signs, Barbaro drove past the police officer on the eastbound side of the closure at about 25 mph and entered the space where the line painting machine was laying down a yellow center line. The officer yelled at her to stop but Barbaro continued driving.
"She continued forward, traveling eastbound in the westbound lane across four brand new lines of thermoplastic lane paint. It should be noted that this paint had only been laid down on the roadway no more than 15 seconds prior to her traveling over it," Martin wrote in his report.
Martin, stationed at another part of the closure, ran toward Barbaro's car to get her to stop before causing any more damage or hurting any of the road workers. She passed several completely unaware workers before coming to a stop. But before doing so, she had spread paint across the road and over a curb lane.
"I approached her vehicle and asked her why she had just traveled between two barrels, passed by several pieces of equipment and workers endangering their safety, and ignored the traffic signs. She replied 'I thought I could go around the barrels and drive through,'" Martin wrote in his report.
Martin estimated that she damaged 90 feet of High Street. Due to the damage, the road had to be ground down with a grinding machine to remove the wayward paint, causing more damage to an area that had been paved less than two years earlier, he wrote in his report.
Dave Rogers is editor of the Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.
Dave Rogers is editor of the Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.
