Questions are being raised after two vehicles went over the side of the Highway 8 flyover in Kitchener, Ont., on Monday.
Although a taxi driver survived the first early morning crash, a driver involved in another crash a little over two hours later, a 38-year-old woman from Waterloo, was killed.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) told CTV News the road was closed for an investigation after the first crash involving a taxi. A consultation with the Ministry of Transportation led to the reopening of the road, police said.
The OPP said the driving lanes were clear of snow, but there were piles along the edges of the flyover.
“The road conditions were in good shape,” OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said. “There was obviously snow on the shoulder — I don’t think it would be reasonable to shut down a ramp when it’s a perfectly good, plowed, salted ramp. Even after the snow system, the plows are going through there, they’re pushing the snow off of the travel lanes to get those lanes open, which is exactly what we need.”
An investigation into the cause of the fatal crash is ongoing.
“Road conditions and weather conditions don’t cause crashes. It’s the driver behaviour and the actions of the driver or the vehicle that results in issues,” Sgt. Schmidt said.
“Obviously, we’ll be doing a mechanical examination of the vehicle to make sure there was no preexisting mechanical issue that may have contributed to the crash. Obviously, environmental factors and human factors are other issues that we’re going to be looking at,” he said.
“At the time of the [fatal] crash, I don’t know if it was actually snowing or not, but the plows had been through and traffic was getting through there without problems.”
Photos taken from the flyover Monday morning show snow piles had reached the lip of the wall.
“You look at any highway right now, there’s embankments everywhere,” Schmidt said.
“This is certainly not the first time we’ve had vehicles ramp up onto snowbanks because drivers are going too fast for the conditions and they lose control. All the other traffic was getting around that ramp without any issues. But again, if you make a mistake and you end up driving onto the shoulder and getting caught in that snowdrift, that is where problems start.”
Schmidt said he doesn’t know what the Ministry of Transportation was dealing with at the time of the crashes, but snow clearing was underway throughout Waterloo Region.
“Looking at all the circumstances, I think it’s reasonable to have the highway moving and have the highway open because the roads are in good condition. The lanes themselves — plowed and salted and were open to traffic. The shoulders, that’s a different story,“ he said.
“But that’s not where cars are supposed to be driving.”
Crews spent several hours Monday night removing the snowbanks from the side of the flyover.
“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by these incidents,” the Ministry of Transportation said in an email to CTV News. “We are reviewing winter maintenance operations at the time of the incidents and will review findings of the police investigation, when available.”
Personal injury lawyer Rob Deutschmann believes there’s a strong case to argue that the snow should have been cleared after the first crash.
“The key things in any personal injury matter is determining, first of all, who’s at fault. And in this case, as I said, it’s who knew what, when and what they do with that information. And whether they had a reasonable amount of time to address that problem.” Deutschmann said.
“I think that’s where liability is going to fall.”
Deutschmann said the road crews that clear the snow have experience working on the roads and are aware of the potential dangers that occur.
“There could be some element of driver error there. But at the same time, driver error would have ended up with them hitting, if it was clear, hitting the barrier and not being launched over,” Deutschmann said.
