EON

Toronto - Crushed and mauled vehicles were removed from sections of highway 400 following a whiteout caused series of crashes on Sunday. As many at one hundred vehicles were involved in the pileups that began just after one pm local time.

The series of vehicle accidents occurred just north of Toronto, and were the result of a line of squalls that blew near the town of Cookston. Located about sixty-five kilometers north of Toronto, the storm brought total white out conditions and a huge mess and confusion.

“There were a number of sudden chain reaction pileups,” said Sgt Cam Woolly. Sgt Woolly is with the Ontario Provincial Police. The patch of road involved is well known for its tendency to ice up and freeze over in the wintertime.

One of the pileup crashes involved over thirty-seven vehicles, and twenty-nine went to the hospital from that crash. An additional crash about a kilometer north resulted in thirty vehicles being smashed and an additional nine people taken to the hospital.

“One area would be fine, you could travel a kilometer either direction and find smashed vehicles, then another area with no crashes. It was amazing,” said Constable Woolly.

Part of the effort to re open the highway included replacement of the Guard Rails in several places. Northern bound lanes were open by 11pm, with southbound traffic reestablished earlier, about 5pm. Some of the guardrails that had been replaced were purposely taken down to allow emergency crews to reach the carnage.

It was a miracle that no one was killed, and while many were sent to the hospital for treatment, only one person was thought to have injuries that were serious or life threatening. Investigation continues but it is suspected the cause of all the Hwy 400 crashes was the white out weather conditions and perhaps following to closely in bad weather.