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  • A Massachusetts state trooper helps an elderly woman across Route 128 north in Beverly yesterday afternoon after she drove down the wrong ramp. Alan Burke

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February 2, 2012

Trooper, bystander aid wrong-way driver

By Alan Burke Staff Writer

BEVERLY — A state police trooper and a good Samaritan came to the aid of a stunned wrong-way driver on Route 128 yesterday afternoon.

The driver was misled by the confusing off- and on-ramps that precede the turn onto Dunham Road on Brimbal Avenue. Rather than head onto Dunham, she mistakenly took the off-ramp and soon found herself speeding into the teeth of the southbound traffic on Route 128.

The woman swerved onto the thin grass median strip in the middle of the highway, a strip that is divided by a fence.

Sensing she needed help, Kristen Ferragamo, who had been traveling south, stopped her van in the breakdown lane and, waiting for a gap in the traffic, raced across the road and got in the car, keeping the driver calm until police arrived.

Meanwhile, a number of bystanders called for help. State Trooper Robert Marquis managed to stop his cruiser in front of the wayward vehicle. He escorted both women to safety.

It was at this point that drivers heading south, apparently realizing the situation, stopped of their own accord and waited patiently until the women crossed the highway and Marquis safely turned around the wrong-way car and moved his cruiser.

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