One person is dead after a crash on Hwy. 401 that saw a transport truck slam into the back of another.
The OPP say just before 8am Friday, one tractor trailer rear-ended another in the eastbound lanes of the highway between Cedar Creek Rd. and Homer Watson Blvd. The truck that was hit then rear-ended a dump truck.
Photo of transport trucks involved in fatal crash on Hwy. 401 near Cedar Creek Rd. Photo by OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt.
The force of the crash sent the cargo in the trailer of the first rig through the front of the trailer and into the cab.
"It's absolutely devastating to see this kind of outcome here," says OPP Sergeant Kerry Schmidt in a Periscope video taken from the scene.
Schmidt says it's too early in the investigation to say what caused the crash, but he says it appears traffic in the area was moving slowly when the first tractor trailer rear-ended the second. The eastbound lanes of the highway were closed at Cedar Creek Rd for most of the day. They re-opened just before 5pm.
The fatal collision came just one day after OPP Commissioner Vince Hawkes drew attention to tractor trailer crashes on Hwy. 401 at a news conference where he announced charges against truck drivers involved in fatal crashes in Chatham-Kent, Port Hope, and Georgina. Those three crashes claimed the lives of six people.
“This series of horrific collisions is driver inattention at its worst and the most tragic reminder in recent history of the tremendous toll on the lives of innocent citizens when commercial transport truck drivers are not paying full attention to the road,” says Hawkes. “We are putting drivers on notice that the OPP will pursue every investigative avenue following serious collisions and hold at-fault drivers accountable to the full extent of the law.”