Traffic is stopped along Highway 400 this morning after a tractor trailer went through the guardrail.
OPP Sgt. Dave Woodford says the transport truck was travelling northbound at about 9 a.m. this morning when it crashed into the southbound lanes between Highway 89 and Innisfil Beach Road.
The tractor trailer "lost control for whatever reason, at this point we don't know," says Woodford. It went "through the steel barrier and jackknifed across the southbound lanes. The steel beam went right through the engine, into the seat, took the seat right out - the driver is so lucky - and then right out the other side."
Woodford says police are getting ready to open up southbound lanes. One northbound and one southbound lane that will remain closed at this time so they can repair guard rail, he says.
“It's going to be right into the evening, take some time, about 50 to 100 feet of guardrail that was taken out,” he says.
The driver has serious but not life-threatening injuries; he was taken to Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre.
"How he's alive, I really don't know," Woodford says. "He's gone to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries at this point. It was a very serious crash."
Woodford says roads were icy at the time and salt isn’t having any effect since temperatures are dropping. He says ice and speed could have been factors. Other vehicles ran over debris from the crash and were damaged. The tractor trailer didn’t hit any other vehicles.
Another crash happened on Highway 400 northbound, south of Highway 9. A driver in a pickup truck was taken to hospital after a crash between a tractor trailer and a pickup truck.
The pickup truck left the highway and went into the embankment. No lanes were blocked in that crash. The man was taken to Newmarket hospital with serious injuries.
He says police have had more than 1,000 calls for service since last night, and police are telling drivers to slow down.
“Some people just don’t get it, that’s the problem,” he says adding it “doesn’t take much for drivers to lose control.”
