Snow and stunt driving made Niagara QEW dangerous last night
Published April 19, 2022 at 10:47 am
Last night’s (April 18) unexpected snowfall made the Niagara QEW stretch a particularly dangerous road to traverse and in one case, a foolhardy one.
The late rush hour traffic saw one driver come perilously close to rolling down the escarpment, narrowly avoiding the possibility of death at 7:30 pm.
The driver’s one saving grace was that when they went over the guardrail after losing control, a lone tree happened to stop their descend.
Tweeted the OPP Highway Safety Division: “Niagara OPP on scene on QEW at Netherby Road. (Vehicle) lost control due to weather, went up the embankment and struck the bridge, saved from rolling back down by a tree! Drive according to weather conditions. #SlowDown.”
Then at roughly 1:30 am this morning, they clocked a driver doing 160 km/h on the wet and slick QEW near the Victoria Avenue exit in Lincoln and charged them with stunt driving. The driver’s excuse? They needed to go that fast to get around a transport trailer.
Even with the speed limit being 110 km/h, that’s 50 clicks over, which puts it into stunt driving and an automatic licence suspension and car impoundment.
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The tweeted: “Niagara OPP stopped a vehicle just now on the QEW near Victoria Ave in Vineland. Driver said they had to go this fast to get around a transport… wet road + high speed= #RecipeForDisaster. Charged (with) Stunt Driving #SlowDown.”
That single tree, left, stopped that vehicle from rolling down the steep hill.
Meanwhile in the wee hours, another driver hit 160 km/h on the Lincoln stretch of the QEW.