‘Shoulder’ Collision On Highway 401 Claims Two Lives
Posted December 30, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A serious two-car crash on Highway 401 left two people dead Sunday, victims of a holiday tragedy that appears to have been not only extremely unfortunate, but also avoidable.
The collision happened just before 1pm Sunday in the westbound express lanes between Warden and Victoria Park. Those westbound lanes were closed for almost five hours, and well into the evening traffic was still at a crawl through that portion of the highway.
Ontario Provincial Police said the driver of the vehicle that was hit was a 71-year-old Mississauga man, who had pulled over onto the shoulder for reasons that remain unclear.
He reportedly took the necessary safety precautions, pulling all the way onto the shoulder and putting on the four-way flashers on his white Subaru. Still, a short time later a second car careened into the parked vehicle at an estimated 120 kilometres an hour, killing the elderly driver who was still in his vehicle.
“He did everything, by the sounds of it proper,” said OPP Const. Dave Woodford. “Stay in your vehicle and put your four-way flashers on.”
The second fatality, reportedly a 52-year-old male and Florida native, was a passenger in the allegedly speeding Lexus with New York plates. He was taken to hospital following the crash, where he later died. Three other people in that vehicle — the victim’s wife and two daughters — suffered only minor injuries.
One daughter, 21-year-old driver and New York resident Niki Chan, stands charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing death. She will appear in a Toronto court Monday morning.
“We don’t know what happened, but it’s tragic out here when we look at anybody losing their life as the result of a traffic fatality,” Woodford said.
Police are still looking into why the Subaru pulled onto the shoulder in the first place.
