Two police officers were among the multiple people injured as treacherous road conditions contributed to 400 reported crashes early Wednesday in southwestern Ontario.
A mixture of wet and heavy snowfall, coupled with low visibility, made for dangerous driving conditions overnight and during the morning commute. Meteorologists are forecasting more snow into the evening.
One notable crash involved two police cruisers, which were hit from behind while the officers stopped to investigate a separate collision on Highway 403 east of London. Both officers were sent to hospital with minor injuries, police said.
“The roadways are snow and ice covered. You need to slow down, and when you see flashing lights, by law, you need to slow down and move over. If you can’t move over safely, you have to reduce your speed,” OPP Sgt. Ed Sanchuk said.
“This is just common sense.”
Police said they were called to crash sites across the region, from Middlesex and Oxford to Haldimand and Elgin counties. Dozens of roads were closed, including sections of the 400-series highways at times.
The westbound lanes of Highway 401 have reopened after being closed for roughly two hours in London, between Highbury Avenue and Wellington Road, where a jackknifed transport trailer blocked lanes after a crash with a passenger vehicle.
Another jackknifed trailer earlier in the day closed westbound lanes on Highway 401, at Wonderland Road. On the 402, the westbound lanes near Glendon Drive in Middlesex County were also closed when a transport truck carrying vehicles flipped over in a crash that has since been cleared.
Sanchuk issued a number of increasingly urgent public addresses throughout the morning and early afternoon, urging drivers to slow down.
“The last thing we want to do is knock on someone’s door to [tell their family] that they’ve been injured or they’re deceased as a result of a preventable crash,” he said.
Aside from crashes throughout the region, the weather resulted in widespread bus cancellations and school closures in rural areas in southwestern Ontario.
OPP also issued a public warning for people spending time near bodies of water, saying falling into ice cold water could be life-threatening within minutes.
As for water that appears to have frozen over, police said no ice is safe ice, and it should always be assumed that one can fall through and be left in a life-threatening situation.
Police also urged the public to be careful on snowmobiles, sharing tips that include:
