Hwy. 400 Open After Series Of Collisions Temporarily Shuts Down Roadway In White-Outs
Posted February 20, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
For the second day in a row, a stretch of one of the province’s busiest highways was closed due to some bad accidents – and the latest traffic stopper came near the same place.
Several collisions forced the OPP to shut down all the southbound lanes on Highway 400 south of Highway 88 just before the noon hour Friday. Most of them were minor and police were able to get the busy route open again a few minutes later.
But the danger isn’t over. The weather has been playing havoc in the area for the past 48 hours, with snow and slippery roads making for treacherous driving conditions. And the extreme cold has reduced the effectiveness of salt, making it hard to melt the icy surfaces.
There are also reports of sudden whiteouts, which are catching many drivers by surprise.
Icy roads are also thought to be responsible for a terrible mishap that resulted in a closure around the same spot on Thursday (top left).
It happened near 7:30am in the southbound lanes when a tractor trailer travelling northbound jackknifed, crashed through the centre median and into oncoming traffic, colliding with several other vehicles before skidding to a stop.
A driver in one of the cars was left clinging to life in hospital after the impact and the route was shut down for more than six hours.
Motorists heading in that direction are being advised to go slow, because the conditions – and the weather – are both changeable.
