A chain of events that could have resulted in serious injuries on Hwy. 401 proved the worth of new cable-barriers in Chatham, according to OPP.
Police say a pick-up truck was travelling eastbound near Kenesserie Rd. when it lost control due to poor weather conditions around 12:30am Saturday morning. Investigators say the pick-up struck the cable-barrier and rolled over in the centre median, preventing a crossover accident, but that wouldn't be the end of the story.
An engine block secured in the bed of the truck was propelled in front of a semi-truck in the westbound lanes causing the driver to strike the engine and veer into the centre median barriers as well.
"It's one of those kind of freak collisions where it had the potential for a lot of loss of life," says Constable Jay Denorer.
He tells AM800 News the fact that everyone walked away from the accident unharmed reaffirms his faith in the cable-barriers being installed until concrete-barriers can be brought into the area.
"That pick-up truck could have actually gone into a crossover which then could have potentially killed the driver of the pick-up truck and anyone coming in the other lanes," he says. "Once the engine left the pick-up truck it's now sitting in the westbound lanes the transport truck driver saw it at the last second and collided with it and then was caused to go into the centre median and that could have potentially caused a second cross over collision."
Denorer tells AM800 News a group in Chatham is calling for concrete-barriers, which he agrees are more effective, but wants to show the province isn't sitting on its hands until they become a reality.
"We've had some [crashes] where we've lost some lives and we're just trying to show the public that the cable-barriers are safe, not as effective as the concrete-barriers, but in this instance they were able to prove their effectiveness," he says.
The 401 was closed for nearly 12 hours to clean up the scene.