Laura Hamilton doesn’t often drive Highway 401, but she knows better than most when the highway’s clogged.
From her office in Cambridge, she has a bird’s-eye view of the highway.
“You can hear crashes, definitely – and sirens, and horns,” she says.
Hamilton estimates that she sees one crash a week on the highway, causing backups both for the collision itself and for others stopping to take a look at it.
Vern Martin, who lives near the 401 in Kitchener, says he sees far more collisions than does Hamilton – estimating one a day.
“I really can’t get over how many we see … it’s not a statistical anomaly that I’m seeing here,” he says.
Statistics provided by provincial police back up claims of frequent crashes on the local stretch of Ontario’s busiest highway.
Between May 1 and Sept. 30, OPP say, 134 crashes occurred on the 401 between the Homer Watson Boulevard and Hespeler Road exits.
In comparison, 94 crashes occurred along the same stretch during the same period in 2013.
Collisions causing injury also saw a big jump, with 18 during the middle four months of 2014, compared to seven between May and September of 2013.
“There’s nothing overly serious that’s occurred – but still, the overall number of crashes has gone up significantly,” Staff Sgt. John Mraud tells CTV News, calling the stretch a “hotspot” for crashes.
Nearly half of all crashes on the 401 were found to be caused by drivers following each other too closely.
Some drivers say ongoing construction work to widen the 401 through Cambridge is partially responsible for the rise in collisions.
Mraud agrees.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that construction is a factor. It’s a visual distraction,” he says.
“It’s something that people need to be prepared for as they drive through this area.”
According to the Ministry of Transportation, 130,600 vehicles use the 401 between Hespeler Road and Highway 8 on an average day, with 65,800 traversing it between Highway 8 and Homer Watson Boulevard.
