A child was seriously injured and “many other people” hurt Thursday in a pair of collisions on Highway 401 east of Gananoque, Ont., that involved about 25 vehicles, according to provincial police.
The eastbound lanes were closed at Reynolds Road in Lansdowne Thursday afternoon.
OPP spokesperson Bill Dickson said Thursday the collisions involved various vehicles including a packed coach bus and a milk tanker that was left leaking
It’s just a scene of devastation down there on the highway right now,” he said.
In an updated posted to social media at 2:45 p.m., police said many people had suffered minor injuries and some were transported to hospital. According to another update Friday morning, four people were hospitalized.
“We’re dealing with a collision scene that has multiple tractor-trailers, multiple vehicles of all sorts: cars, pickup trucks … you name a type of vehicle, it’s probably in there somewhere,” Dickson said Thursday.
Photos from the scene show a red transport truck with its front end crushed and parts strewn across the road.
By 1 p.m. Thursday, OPP had been called to 60 collisions across eastern Ontario as driving snow blanketed roads and reduced visibility. Dickson called it a “brutal day on the road.”
He said Friday there had been nearly 200 crashes on OPP-patrolled roads in eastern Ontario the previous day
Dickson said the OPP’s priority is the safety of people involved in the collisions, and to free the traffic trapped between the two crash scenes.
He urged anyone stuck on the highway not to pull a U-turn to try to avoid the scene, describing that as “one of the most dangerous things you could possibly do.”
A Toronto OPP officer was injured after his cruiser was struck at the scene of a car that had broken down on Highway 401 in Pickering.
The crash happened Friday after 7 a.m. in the westbound lanes near Whites Rd.
The officer was stopped at the scene while a tow truck was hooking up a vehicle that had broken down when another vehicle slammed into the back of his police cruiser, OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said.
Treated at the scene
The police officer, who was in the vehicle at the time of the collision, sustained minor injuries and was treated at the scene by paramedics.
The driver who struck the police vehicle was not injured.
“But the incident could have resulted in far more serious outcomes,” Schmidt said, noting that there was “a lot of damage to the vehicles” involved.
The investigation is ongoing and charges are pending, Schmidt added on X.
The transfer lanes from the collector to express lanes at Whites Rd. were closed but are expected to reopen shortly, OPP said in a follow-up post.
Get to your destination safely
Police stressed that even though road conditions have improved significantly since Thursday’s snowstorm, drivers still need to stay alert.
“Yes, driving and visibility and road conditions are far better than they were 24 hours ago but that doesn’t mean we can let up any of our focus and attention,” Schmidt reminded drivers.
Please, wherever you are, hands on the wheel, eyes on the road, keep your mind focused on the task of driving.”
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