Multiple crashes on snow-covered roads in southern Ontario have forced police to shut down highways on Friday and remind drivers to take it easy.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) reported several accidents that either closed highways or caused major traffic delays, including:
Eastbound Hwy. 401 from Guelph Line to Milton. Westbound Hwy. 401 from Cedar Creek Road near Cambridge to Woodstock was closed Friday around 12:15 p. m., “due to multiple collisions and poor weather and road conditions.”Westbound Hwy. 403 in Norwich Township. Eastbound Hwy. 402 at Wonderland Road S. in London was closed from 11 a. m. to 12:30 p. m., “due to a multi-vehicle collision and poor road conditions.”Perth Line 20 between Perth Road 164 and Perth Road 163 is closed due to a vehicle that has blocked the roadway resulting from bad road and weather conditions. Hwy. 8 in West Perth due to a collision.
“The winter weather’s back and, well, so are the collisions,” OPP Sgt. Ed Sanchuk said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, posted from the Hwy. 402 collision.
“The OPP right now here in west region across southwestern Ontario are responding to multiple collisions in various communities and our local highways.”
Sanchuk noted that Friday’s snowy conditions created slippery roads and urged drivers to adjust their driving based on the weather.
“The roadways are snow covered and in certain cases ice covered. They’re slick [and] slippery so we need people to slow down, leave enough time, room and distance between you and other vehicles, turn your entire headlighting system on and please reduce your speed,” he said.
Earlier in the day, OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt shared a video on X from Hwy. 401 saying, “Mother Nature’s not done with us yet.”
He mentioned that snow was affecting driving throughout the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton leading to numerous accidents.
Environment and Climate Change Canada issued a special weather statement for much of southern Ontario stretching from Windsor up to Tobermory and across Toronto down south of Ottawa for heavy snowfall. A wind warning was also active for parts of the same area.
Some regions were expecting up to 15 cm of snow along with winds reaching up to 110 km/h.
The weather statement cautioned that heavy snowfall combined with blowing snow could result in low visibility.
A winter storm warning was issued for areas including Grand Bend, Exeter, Stratford, Wingham, Lucknow, and Port Elgin.
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