An investigation is now underway to find out the trigger and circumstances of a single-vehicle rollover on the Queen Elizabeth Means in Oakville that left a nine-year-old boy and its 38-year-old driver significantly injured.
The collision occurred shortly after midnight on Monday within the westbound lanes of the freeway, approaching Burloak Drive.
On Monday, Sgt. Kerry Schmidt, of the OPP, stated a pickup truck with three occupants inside, all of whom are associated, entered the ditch and rolled over.
The 38-year-old driver of the car, a resident of Hamilton, was transported to hospital with severe accidents.
A nine-year-old passenger was ejected from the car and transported to hospital with out very important indicators. He was subsequently pronounced deceased in hospital, police stated.
One other passenger of the car, a 28-year-old, was unhurt and remained on the scene, they added.
The westbound lanes of the freeway have been closed for about six hours following the crash, however have since reopened.
Schmidt instructed CP24 on Monday afternoon that the investigation into what occurred remains to be within the early phases.
“(There’s) a lot of work to be done yet in terms of investigation, in terms of cause and reasons for this to happen. Obviously, we’re looking at everything: environmental issues, human factors, and everything,” he stated, including that on the time of the collision the roads have been dry and clear.
Schmidt stated driver impairment and fatigue will even be thought of in addition to if seatbelts and restraints have been used and in the event that they have been employed successfully on the time of the crash.
Police are actually within the means of reviewing cameras from the freeway system as a part of their investigation, which will even embrace wanting on the 4 primary causes for deadly collisions: aggressive driving, impaired driving, distracted driving, and seatbelt use, Schmidt added.
“It’s just an absolutely heartbreaking situation here that we’re trying to find answers for and really, there’s really no words of comfort that we can say at this time. It’s absolutely devastating,” he stated.
“It’s a reminder for everyone that, we need to be safe, responsible, and alert at all times when operating our vehicles.”
Schmidt stated quite a few witnesses stopped to help and supply first support following the crash previous to emergency responders arriving on scene. He urged anybody with info, together with anybody with dashcam or different video footage, to contact police.
