Highway 401 is one of the busiest highways in North America. It plays a major role in the economy of southern Ontario as a region, and of Canada as a country.
So why is it so easy for it to come to a complete halt?
Since Oct. 11, there have been five separate incidents causing all lanes of the 401 to be blocked in one direction for several hours. The latest occurred Friday, when the eastbound lanes were closed for nearly 10 hours between Ayr and Kitchener due to a fatal crash.
Experience truck drivers say increasing traffic levels are only causing more and more problems, even as the province moves to widen the highway along some of its busiest stretches.
Earlier this week, the Ontario Provincial Police issued a call to transport truck drivers to pay more attention while behind the wheel. (While not all of the collisions that closed the 401 have involved transport trucks, Friday’s did.)
The Ontario Trucking Association has said that it is committed to promoting road safety, noting that while far more trucks are using Ontario’s roads than 20 years ago, the fatality rate from collisions involving large trucks has fallen significantly.
The trucking association, OPP and Ministry of Transportation are working together to come up with strategies to reduce distracted and aggressive behaviour.
Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig wants to see the problem tackled from another angle.
While he has no jurisdiction over the 401 itself, he says he wants to see more done to prioritize bringing GO trains to the city to entice commuters to ignore the highway altogether.
“It’s got to be evaluated at a higher priority,” he said Friday.
