OPP are still busy tallying and tracking the damage in their investigation of a massive pile-up on Highway 400 that happened Thursday.
Aurora Highway Safety Division police say the number of vehicles involved in the crash now stands at 104.
The crash happened at about 9 a.m. Thursday morning on the southbound lanes between Innisfil Beach Road and Highway 89. The southbound lanes had the look of a wrecking yard as cars and trucks that had smashed into each other were scattered across all the lanes.
Three people were taken to hospital and are expected to recover from their injuries. Police say it’s a miracle no one died.
Vehicles involved in the crash were slowly starting to arrive at body shops on Friday.
Penny Stephens was on her way to work in Keswick and was caught right in the middle of the mayhem.
“I had a gold car in front of me – he hit another car. I stopped but it was so quick that the SUV behind me hit me and the car that was in front me was now beside me,” she says.
Stephens says snow squalls in the area made it impossible to see anything in the moments leading up to the pile-up. The OPP are continuing to investigate and now say 101 vehicles were involved.
“It looks like one vehicle lost control and hit a guard rail and was then hit by six other vehicles and then the chain reaction started. Everyone was braking, losing control, and ramming in to one another,” says OPP Sgt. Dave Woodford.
From smashed tail lights to cracked bumpers and crushed front ends – the damage was extensive and some cars had to be written off.
Greg Sherman, the manager at a body shop in Barrie, says there is already one month’s worth of work to be done and he’s expecting a lot more over the next couple of days.
“A lot of these vehicles were hit front and back. You’re not looking at a quick repair. The average turnaround is about a week and half but it’s going to take a lot more work to get them out the door,” he says.
Even with snow squall warnings, police say it was impossible to prevent the pile-up. But Woodford says the end result could have been much different if drivers hadn’t adjusted to the conditions.
“We could have been looking at a fatality or more but a lot of the drivers said they did slow down. Nobody was travelling more than 50 kilometres per hour when this occurred,” adds Woodford.
As for Stephens, she is okay but says her car is likely a write-off. However, she says she is looking to move forward and says it could have been much worse.
“I walked away from it and so did everyone else. No one was seriously injured.”
The OPP say all of the drivers involved in the pile-up have now completed incident reports.