This crash happened yesterday just west of where I live. What a horrific thing - a lot of the drivers had to spend the night in their cars that were trapped on the road! Yes, it's winter here! This is the clip from CBC.
30 vehicles in deadly Hwy. 401 crash, OPP confirm
At least one eastbound lane opened Friday evening
Last Updated: Friday, February 2, 2007 | 7:18 PM ET
CBC News
Thirty vehicles were involved in the deadly crash on a stretch of Canada's busiest highway near the central Ontario town of Cobourg, police confirmed Friday afternoon.
The Highway 401 crash involved 23 passenger vehicles and seven transport trucks, including the tanker that exploded, Insp. Mike Johnston of Northumberland Ontario Provincial Police said at a news conference.
Two died in the fiery crash on the eastbound lane of the snow-swept highway at about 12:20 p.m. ET Thursday near Cobourg, about 100 kilometres east of Toronto.
Police have not yet released the victims' names. Autopsies are scheduled to be performed in Toronto on Saturday.
Thirteen others were injured in the accident, and one remained in hospital, Johnston said.
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Truckers stuck on highway all night
Crews worked through the night to clear the road of wreckage, including rolls of heavy metal that fell from a flatbed truck involved in the crash and the charred remains of vehicles.
Enough debris had been cleared from the eastbound highway by mid-morning to allow 108 frustrated truckers, who had waited in their vehicles overnight and were running low on fuel, to drive through.
Three kilometres of tractor-trailers had been lined up on the highway since the accident, unable to turn around or move forward.
"There's been no information passed on, nothing. We've been here since noon yesterday [Thursday]," said one trucker.
Road needs repaving because of fire
OPP Sgt. Bob Patterson made an impassioned plea for motorists to slow down and refrain from passing when driving through small communities such as Cobourg.
A section of the eastbound lanes where the crash occurred must be repaved after the burning tanker melted the road's surface and other vehicles left "tremendous gouge marks," Patterson said.
Ontario Ministry of Transportation experts are assessing the damage, but police said it could take days to complete the more extensive repairs to the asphalt.
Passerby helps injured find help
Johnston said police heard many witness accounts of passersby racing to help people from cars.
"There are tremendous side-stories in terms of heroism and we will do our best to recognize those people."
Stratford resident Joanne Benham Rennick, who came across the crash while driving in the opposite direction, told CBC News about how she and her husband tried to help the injured and confused people stumbling from cars.
Her first sight of the accident was a green tractor-trailer with one side of the cab "virtually sheared off," then flames that flashed up farther down the road.
Walking past the vehicles, she began directing the injured to others who could treat them or give them a warm place to sit down.
One man had his face and hand covered in blood, and another came out of his vehicle with a dislocated shoulder.
Another woman told Rennick how she stopped behind the accident and a car hit her from behind, pushing her into the crush of vehicles. She escaped before her car was engulfed in flames.
"I said, 'Gee, I don't know how you even got out of the car,' because it was by then completely in the fire … and being consumed by flames," Rennick said. "And she said 'I don't want to think about that or I'll freak out.'"
How to avoid pileups
Officials won't know what caused the accident for several weeks, but witnesses said heavy snow causing zero visibility was undoubtedly a factor.
Some say cars should turn on their hazard lights to alert those behind them to an accident on the road ahead.
But Annett warned that some drivers interpret the hazard lights as a vehicle pulled over on the side of the road and swerve to avoid them, ending up involved in the pileup.
He said motorists should only use their hazards temporarily to alert others and, if they are stopped, they should stay as far off the road as possible.
Most importantly, though, drivers need to start responding immediately in whiteout conditions, he said.
"Whiteouts don't often fall like a curtain across a stage," said Annett. "They come on gradually, at least in terms of giving a driver a few seconds to respond."
Motorists should begin slowing down as soon as they notice the tail lights of vehicles 15 or 20 seconds ahead of them are difficult to see, he said.
30 vehicles in deadly Hwy. 401 crash, OPP confirm
At least one eastbound lane opened Friday evening
Last Updated: Friday, February 2, 2007 | 7:18 PM ET
CBC News
Thirty vehicles were involved in the deadly crash on a stretch of Canada's busiest highway near the central Ontario town of Cobourg, police confirmed Friday afternoon.
The Highway 401 crash involved 23 passenger vehicles and seven transport trucks, including the tanker that exploded, Insp. Mike Johnston of Northumberland Ontario Provincial Police said at a news conference.
Slow traffic drove on a single westbound lane, open since early morning. At least one eastbound lane opened Friday evening.A blizzard contributed to the multi-vehicle accident on Highway 401 near Cobourg, Ont., on Thursday. More than a dozen vehicles were involved, including a fuel-laden tanker truck that exploded and burned.
(Lars Hagberg/Canadian Press)
Two died in the fiery crash on the eastbound lane of the snow-swept highway at about 12:20 p.m. ET Thursday near Cobourg, about 100 kilometres east of Toronto.
Police have not yet released the victims' names. Autopsies are scheduled to be performed in Toronto on Saturday.
Thirteen others were injured in the accident, and one remained in hospital, Johnston said.
// '); // ]]>
Truckers stuck on highway all night
Crews worked through the night to clear the road of wreckage, including rolls of heavy metal that fell from a flatbed truck involved in the crash and the charred remains of vehicles.
Enough debris had been cleared from the eastbound highway by mid-morning to allow 108 frustrated truckers, who had waited in their vehicles overnight and were running low on fuel, to drive through.
Three kilometres of tractor-trailers had been lined up on the highway since the accident, unable to turn around or move forward.
"There's been no information passed on, nothing. We've been here since noon yesterday [Thursday]," said one trucker.
Road needs repaving because of fire
OPP Sgt. Bob Patterson made an impassioned plea for motorists to slow down and refrain from passing when driving through small communities such as Cobourg.
"Everyone is just going to have to be patient," said Patterson about detours set up on the 401. "Heaven forbid we have another accident on a detour road."
A section of the eastbound lanes where the crash occurred must be repaved after the burning tanker melted the road's surface and other vehicles left "tremendous gouge marks," Patterson said.
Ontario Ministry of Transportation experts are assessing the damage, but police said it could take days to complete the more extensive repairs to the asphalt.
Passerby helps injured find help
Johnston said police heard many witness accounts of passersby racing to help people from cars.
"There are tremendous side-stories in terms of heroism and we will do our best to recognize those people."
Stratford resident Joanne Benham Rennick, who came across the crash while driving in the opposite direction, told CBC News about how she and her husband tried to help the injured and confused people stumbling from cars.
Her first sight of the accident was a green tractor-trailer with one side of the cab "virtually sheared off," then flames that flashed up farther down the road.
Traffic had ground to a halt, and Rennick and her husband decided to clamber over the median and try to help those in the wreckage.
Walking past the vehicles, she began directing the injured to others who could treat them or give them a warm place to sit down.
One man had his face and hand covered in blood, and another came out of his vehicle with a dislocated shoulder.
Another woman told Rennick how she stopped behind the accident and a car hit her from behind, pushing her into the crush of vehicles. She escaped before her car was engulfed in flames.
"I said, 'Gee, I don't know how you even got out of the car,' because it was by then completely in the fire … and being consumed by flames," Rennick said. "And she said 'I don't want to think about that or I'll freak out.'"
How to avoid pileups
Officials won't know what caused the accident for several weeks, but witnesses said heavy snow causing zero visibility was undoubtedly a factor.
Doug Annett, who runs a school that teaches drivers how to negotiate roads in treacherous weather, said expert opinions differ on how drivers should react in such incidents.
Some say cars should turn on their hazard lights to alert those behind them to an accident on the road ahead.
But Annett warned that some drivers interpret the hazard lights as a vehicle pulled over on the side of the road and swerve to avoid them, ending up involved in the pileup.
He said motorists should only use their hazards temporarily to alert others and, if they are stopped, they should stay as far off the road as possible.
Most importantly, though, drivers need to start responding immediately in whiteout conditions, he said.
"Whiteouts don't often fall like a curtain across a stage," said Annett. "They come on gradually, at least in terms of giving a driver a few seconds to respond."
Motorists should begin slowing down as soon as they notice the tail lights of vehicles 15 or 20 seconds ahead of them are difficult to see, he said.
