Massive 100+ car pileup on the 400 between 88 & 89

[Jeff-TheBiz]

Covered on cp24 right now... and happening only 10 mins north of me..

Be careful out there today if you are brave enough to take a highway north of hwy7.

Highway 404 and 400 has 0 visability at most parts.

I hope no member is one of the 100 cars involved in the current fiacso.

http://www.citynews.ca/images/2008-01/jan2008-collision.jpg

[Dragazn]

lol WTH!!! I'm downtown right now and not a single snowflake is falling from the sky.

Why is it so crazy up there/

[Skarbro]

Holy chit!

[b]

Ya I was watching that on TV. Crazy!

[Thunder 3]

Sadly that doesn't surprise me...I go to school in Barrie and that section is the most dangerous part of the 400 for some reason. Same spot all the accidents happen in, including the huge pileup last year. Hopefully everybody involved is ok...

[gqstunning]

I was on the 400 at around 12:30PM today. I was supposed to go to a park up North but soon as I hit Hwy 11, the weather became zero visiblity in an instant. People were travelling with their hazard lights on. I must of just missed the pileup!

[gqstunning]

Oh, and on my way home from work today the 404 was backed up as well.

[SpeedBaby]

the weather is sooo weird! I was just driving down steeles and all the way to bayview the snow was so heavy i could barely see the car in front of me...as i reached yonge - it was sunny and no snow. by the time i got to bathurst/steeles there weren't even a trace of snow and the sun was shining...so strange

[///M]

I was there yesterday when it just started snowing. That section of the 400 has huge open fields on either side, and when combined with the wind and snow there's little, if any visibility.

[lamerking]

Wow. I'm glad I live in Windsor where we get the least snow in Ontario.

[Flagrum_3]

Sadly that doesn't surprise me...I go to school in Barrie and that section is the most dangerous part of the 400 for some reason. Same spot all the accidents happen in, including the huge pileup last year. Hopefully everybody involved is ok...

+1 ...Same thing yesterday around noon, drove thru a major Snow Squawl in the same spot...just curious why the Ministry has not decided to build any wind barriers running along the west side of the hwy in that specific area, considering the treacherousness of it?....maybe they should think about it now! And yeah, quite amazingly no one was hurt seriously.


_3


.

[ZeroChalk]

Suppose to go snowboarding at Moonstone today, but people were whining about the wind chill. Good thing though! Would have runned in to headaches coming back. Funny thing is D/T, not a drop of snow, and blue skies. I drove to my parent's house in Rhill and as soon as I passed maybe Sheppard it was snow squall conditions. Literally like night and day. Unbelievable.

[3GFX]

That is crazy, it was bad driving today. 2 people wrapped there cars around a pole just down the road from my place. Everyone was ok, but the drifts were just that bad. Sucks you right in.

[Broli]

hope that there are no major injuries and that all of us at TM3 avoided this mess

this is crazy, but it could so easily happen




Highway 404 and 400 has 0 visability at most parts.



yep, 404 southbound was terrible all the way to the 407 today!

[Thunder 3]

+1 ...Same thing yesterday around noon, drove thru a major Snow Squawl in the same spot...just curious why the Ministry has not decided to build any wind barriers running along the west side of the hwy in that specific area, considering the treacherousness of it?....maybe they should think about it now! And yeah, quite amazingly no one was hurt seriously.

For some reason this section of highway has a lot of accidents even in the summer. I had to commute from Barrie to Scarborough from May to August and often that section of the highway had some kind of accident or problem. It's strange...but something should definitely be done even if it's planting more trees along the highway as a barrier.

[-RJ3-]

Damn... Like the bermuda triangle, but instead of losing planes, cars are crashing...

[Wild Weasel]

Wow. I'm glad I live in Windsor where we get the least snow in Ontario.

Funny you mention Windsor...

This is the first time I can recall hearing about a huge pileup due to a blizzard. Generally speaking, when I think of pileups, I think of the stretch of 401 between Windsor and Chatham. They have far worse pileups due to fog there.

[3GFX]

Damn... Like the bermuda triangle, but instead of losing planes, cars are crashing...


Exactly what I think of...anytime I'm on the 400 north of 7 its exactly what I think.

[b3GS]

we had plans to head up to Barrie to visit family on Sunday... but changed plans on saturday for other reasons.. scary to think, we might have gotten into that because it is pretty much the exact time we were going to head up.

[mEtH]

Was coming home from being up north and had to avoid the 404 & 400 because of accidents.
The conditions were bad but once I made it to the 400 & 7 not even a spec of snow to be seen. Weird how that all works, an hour and a half drive took about 2 1/2 hours, just glad to be home with no problems.

[WLS ZMZM]

you gotta love our weather.... truthfully if there is one part of the highway that is the most treacherous I'd probably say around the London area on the 401.. at least it always seems to be the first stretch shut down by the OPP. the 400 around that area really is lousy... again nothing to cut down the wind or blowing snow... same can be said about the whole 407. Seems kind of stupid to build a hwy thats a nice open field but I guess they don't think of safety!

[wtom]

we had plans to head up to Barrie to visit family on Sunday... but changed plans on saturday for other reasons.. scary to think, we might have gotten into that because it is pretty much the exact time we were going to head up.

Very similar situation for me; normally I'd go up to Blue Mtn on Sundays but this wknd I chose to go Saturday instead. Lucky..

Sorta (http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=22360)... :P

[lamerking]

Funny you mention Windsor...

This is the first time I can recall hearing about a huge pileup due to a blizzard. Generally speaking, when I think of pileups, I think of the stretch of 401 between Windsor and Chatham. They have far worse pileups due to fog there.

You are correct. If I remember correctly, it happened in 1999 during Labour Day weekend. We were supposed to head up to Niagara Falls that day but luckily we didn't. Very dense fog and tailgating causes an 87-vehicle pile-up, killing 8, and injuring 33 more. This is the only one in the history of Windsor.

There are many deaths that happen along this stretch of the highway with the above incident being the worst. Theres a few bends where if you're driving to fast and not careful, you won't make it. Since then, the Ontario gov't has decided to widen the east and westbound lanes from 2 to 3 lanes each.

We probably get the most fog in Windsor but also get the least amount of snow.

Regardless, whats the message delievered in any car pileup??

"SLOW DOWN AND DON'T TAILGATE"

:)

[OnkelHans]

Very similar situation for me; normally I'd go up to Blue Mtn on Sundays but this wknd I chose to go Saturday instead. Lucky..

Sorta (http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=22360)... :P

Whe do you ski/ride on Sundays. I normally go up for 4pm and ride til 8-9. Maybe we should do a mini-meet.

[ZeroChalk]

Whe do you ski/ride on Sundays. I normally go up for 4pm and ride til 8-9. Maybe we should do a mini-meet.

I'm game as well.. I also have a 5x7.

[jaM3ican]

I was actually on my way to Toronto from Barrie just about that time I must have just missed it. All of a sudden it seemed like there was no one behind me. Thanks my lucky stars that i missed it.

:flaming:flaming:flamingI just don't understand why people drive with their hazard lights??????!!!!!!!!! If anyone was to make a lane change no one would know about it. I would not doubt that may have been part of the reason that there was an accident.:flaming:flaming:flaming very frustrating

[Thunder 3]

:flaming:flaming:flamingI just don't understand why people drive with their hazard lights??????!!!!!!!!! If anyone was to make a lane change no one would know about it. I would not doubt that may have been part of the reason that there was an accident.:flaming:flaming:flaming very frustrating

People do that to make themselves more visible to other cars when visibility is extremely low and they have to drive very slowly. I had to do that during one blizzard last year...I could barely see a metre in front of my car and I was afraid somebody was going to drive into me. I actually had to swerve out of the way since a transport wasn't even able to see my car.

The pileup in this case was caused by the fact that a heavy snow squall blew in and nobody could see where they were driving or where the other cars on the road were. That area can be pretty brutal.

[jaM3ican]

People do that to make themselves more visible to other cars when visibility is extremely low and they have to drive very slowly. I had to do that during one blizzard last year...I could barely see a metre in front of my car and I was afraid somebody was going to drive into me. I actually had to swerve out of the way since a transport wasn't even able to see my car.

The pileup in this case was caused by the fact that a heavy snow squall blew in and nobody could see where they were driving or where the other cars on the road were. That area can be pretty brutal.


IMO i just don't think it's safe. Even at one point i think radio stations were telling people not to drive with them on.

There is nothing in the MTO handbook that states that it is okay to drive with hazards on. if there is anyone that is friends with a member of Law Enforcement it would be interesting to hear what they have to say about this practice

[Wild Weasel]

I've done it before when I've been forced due to visibility to drive significantly below the speed limit. I think it's a good practice. It's not to make you more visible... it's a warning to anyone coming up that you're going really slow.

[-RJ3-]

There's a law about running hazards at a certain degree. I think its in our drivers ed manual.

[wtom]

Whe do you ski/ride on Sundays. I normally go up for 4pm and ride til 8-9. Maybe we should do a mini-meet.


I'm game as well.. I also have a 5x7.

Heading up this Saturday Feb 2nd with 5x7. I'm a boarder.

[OnkelHans]

Heading up this Saturday Feb 2nd with 5x7. I'm a boarder.

I'll be there Sunday Feb 3rd.
Happy to meet for a beer anytime after 4PM.
I'm a boarder too!

[WLS ZMZM]

I've used my hazards before... driving up the 400 a year or so ago in my civic... heading to wasaga.. hit some really bad fog.... so there was no way I was gonna book it through the fog when I could barely see what was in front of my windshield!