MASSIVE accident in Cananda on HWY 400 96+ vehicles involved

**ENOUGH**

This thread isn't about the hockey team, or what parts of Canada can and can't drive in snow and ice. It's about the "MASSIVE accident in Canada on HWY 400 96+ vehicles involved". Let's get back to the topic at hand please.

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It wasn't me I'm not even allowed in the country.

But really our highway 94 & 96 are just east of Lake Michigan and we have had sooooo many multicar pileups the towing company down the road is renting space to put wrecked semis in. Crazy drivers weathers fine drivers BAD! I know there must be lots of other areas with major problems.

Zaphod58
**ENOUGH**

This thread isn't about the hockey team, or what parts of Canada can and can't drive in snow and ice. It's about the "MASSIVE accident in Canada on HWY 400 96+ vehicles involved". Let's get back to the topic at hand please.

Do not reply to this message. Thank you.

edit on 2/27/2014 by Zaphod58 because: (no reason given)

Reposting for members to be aware.

Added bonus, any and all T&C infractions beyond this point will result in a posting ban.

Enough warnings were given and ignored at this point.

Do not reply to this post.

~Tenth
ATS Super Mod

reply to post by thesaneone


We are. It just depends how many generations of Canadian you are if you catch my drift.

canDarian

The problem here is the Canadian DB Government has been privatizing the road networks with no oversight, and this here is what you get. A POS company hired by the Federal Government to do a job with 0 watchdogs in place to see if the job is being done. I drive this route CONSTANTLY, from Kitchener to Gloucester and anyone who else drives it can confirm the lack of ploughs. Driving up in the worst storm in Ont in 30 years from Kit to Ottawa I saw a total of 0 ploughs, they had 3 days notice of the storm and 0 response, the Federal Government caused over 62 deaths directly by their inaction.

That's odd, I didn't know the Federal Government was responsible for the maintenance of roads in Canada.

Oh wait, it isn't.

If you're going to blame a government for poor ploughing of roads and multiple traffic accident deaths, how about picking on the level of government that might actually be responsible? Road maintenance is the responsibility of the PROVINCIAL government, in this case the Ontario government in Toronto.

reply to post by aboutface

re zambonies
if you see a zambonie...its ixnay on the ice fishing
nothing scares the fish away quite like a zambonie does...
...................
barrie is on a snowbelt
they get triple the wallop we do further north
it comes in off georgian bay, hits all the ski hills on the blue mountains; and then ...pow
hello 400

no matter what the snow removal effort is people have to realize...it is what it is
no matter how much they model global warming
don't leave home without your geloshes

reply to post by canDarian

I talked to a Canadian tonight that said it took him 4 hrs to get across the bridge from Windsor. Where is the 400 in relation to the 401 from Windsor out toward Toronto???

Hwy 400 begins in 'downtown Toronto', straight through to Barrie and has only two? turn-offs on that section. (Barrie was known as Toronto's bedroom'. In Barrie, 3 Hwys join- #400, #11, and #27, then go their own ways just north of Barrie.

Anything regarding Windsor and the bridge to Detroit is obviously far away.

I always felt that the high speed limits on #400 were because of the lack of turnoffs.....just watch what is ahead and keep on going. In 1969 the speed limit was 75 mph and I was a passenger in car travelling 120 mph, it crashed and I was permanently injured. We passed 6 cars doing the limit, 2 lanes northbound, 2 lanes southbound and a huge grassy median in between, just 5 miles south of Barrie. Later the speed limit became 65 mph.

As with many Hwys, this is one that brings about having to drive over the limit to keep out of the way of those behind you. In snowy weather like that, one would expect everyone to keep their distance and mind the speed: better safe than sorry!


P.S.

As you might note there are few windbreaks along the sides of the Hwy. It was built by the Provincial Government buying up farmers' land and barrelling straight through.....leaving whiteouts free to blow over many a time and cause very dangerous driving. I was 7 years old when my father's farm was bought by the Gov't.

I am suspecting that the cars were too close together, and thus couldn't stop in time? I am constantly complaining about how people don't know how to drive, and following distance is one of the things that just irritates me. The reason such rules exist is so that when something happens to a car in front of you, you have time to stop before becoming entangled in the crash. Yet virtually nobody follows such rules. It is probably a law in many places, although I am not certain. It should be though.

And if the roads are icy and slick, you need to give much more distance between vehicles, since you will not be able to stop as quickly. So that has always been one of the things that just makes me angry while driving. The other is people not using blinkers. They are there for a reason, not just for decoration. I just don't understand how anyone can be THAT lazy.

But anyway, I hate to see accidents, and I feel sorry for these people. Since I don't know exactly what happened, I won't condemn anyone for being at fault...But I still have to ask if this was caused by a failure to keep an adequate distance between vehicles.

I heard the Canadians are going to be changing to driving on the left. They will start with trucks first then cars will follow after that..

When it comes to driving in winter conditions, most of us Canadians know what we're doing. I live in Alberta and we don't ever see big pile ups like this, but when the accidents do happen it's always because of the same thing... Either one person is driving way too fast, or one person is driving way too slow. And that's all it takes. Most people don't realize that driving too slow is just as dangerous as speeding, especially on an icy road with near white-out conditions. Of course I can only speculate on what caused this accident... However, it has also been my experience that the province usually has some part of the fault. Here in Edmonton, the city isn't very smart about their snow removal strategy, and I think it's the same in every province. We just get to used to driving in the snow and then the people in charge of clearing the roads just slack in their duties. They we get over-run with bad driving conditions, the city scrambles to clear the roads, and the budget for snow removal gets spent after one snow fall... THEN there's just no money left to keep the roadways clear... Unfortunately, this is just the sad reality of driving in winter.

Another issue I see comes from people getting too comfortable with driving in the snow. The first snowfall of the year always comes with slow drivers taking their time to get where they are going. By the second snowfall, they are comfortable with driving and start driving like it was summer.. It's important to not become complaisant when behind the wheel!!

I've had my licence for 21 years now, and I've never had an accident. I don't get into accidents because I use winter tires in the winter. I leave at least 3 car lengths between me and the car in front of me at all times. I speed, but not when it's icy and certainly not when there are other cars around. Most importantly, I drive with my cell phone turned off. 3 simple ways to never get into an accident. Good reflexes help too...

Anyway, I hope everyone over there is ok.

Retikx
reply to post by thesaneone

 

We are. It just depends how many generations of Canadian you are if you catch my drift.

I think its the age of the driver.. rather than generations lol.

I think its time to let computers drive our cars.

saneguy
I think its time to let computers drive our cars.

NEVER!! I'm the driver! I drive the car, not vice-versa. I think that all the automation in vehicles is part of the problem here... Blind-spot monitoring is an excuse to not shoulder check. Automatic parking systems take away from one of the most basic skills a driver should have; parking. Tire pressure monitors take away from the responsibility of owning car; basic maintenance. Accident avoidance gives people a reason to follow too close, back up monitors keep you from looking where you are going. Driving is one of the freedoms that I will fight tooth and nail to keep.

If you need a car that drives itself, then take the bus.

reply to post by PollyPeptide


OMG, the people on the 401 are mentally challenged, and that's putting it mildly. Automation could work. If the cars were linked for certain events like say a massive pile up, the speed would be automatically reduced.

The biggest issue with highways in Canada is that there is rarely a shoulder to go on.

I'm definitely a proponent of automated vehicles. Too many times I see illegal lane changes, excessive speed and general idiocy on the roads.

amraks
I heard the Canadians are going to be changing to driving on the left. They will start with trucks first then cars will follow after that..

Ne-ver. Else the Mounties would have to change their motto of "maintiens la droite!" (stick to the right lane)

reply to post by canadiansenior70

Thanks for that. I have some US Customs checks each day from companies n St Catharines who make the trip from there to Detroit on the 401. Both said yesterday they got held up for about 4 hrs.

The average braking distance on ideal dry cement conditions travelling at 100 km/h is 70-75 metres. The actual stopping distance is roughly 100 metres.

On icy road conditions (or even semi-slippery), you can easily double that distance needed to come to a full stop.

Anyone who's driving behind another car closer than that is asking for trouble... if the car in front of you suddenly comes to a stop, you're up poop's creek without a paddle. Now add to that whiteout conditions where you can't even see the car in front of you stopping, taking away any opportunity for you to start braking from a safe distance, and you've got a recipe for disaster.

This is the problem on most multiple lane freeways... everyone is driving way way too close to one another in relation to the speeds they're doing, thinking they're just simply following the flow of traffic. But more times than not, the "flow of traffic" is an accident looking for a place to happen.

Hence, you end up with 96-car pileups.