Tractor-trailers collide on Highway 401

Crews were called to clean-up following a crash involving two semi-trucks on Highway 401 near Cambridge on Thursday afternoon.

In a tweet posted just after 4 p.m., Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) reported one of the drivers had been charged with careless driving.

Viewer video submitted to CTV News shows a truck crossing three lanes of traffic and colliding into a passing tractor-trailer. The trucks both slam into the concrete median separating east and westbound traffic.

The video shows the crash happened just a few kilometres east of the Cambridge OnRoute.

This dash cam video was taken by Chase Anderson who was heading westbound on the 401 near the Cambridge on-route just before 11:30 a.m.

Anderson is a professional truck driver himself and said in those critical moments his training kicked in.

“The only thing I'm thinking, how am I going to get around this? Either I go this way or I slam on the breaks,” he said. “I thought I could try to pass them and the guy all of a sudden started veering this way, so I locked up my brakes to the point that I cooked off a lot of brake pads.”

Adding: “Pretty much my main intention is to get the day done and get home in one piece so I can come home to my family, right? At the end of the day, it's always on the back of my mind and when I get home it's a sigh of relief.”

Lane closures were temporarily implemented as crews dealt with a diesel spill.

A photo shared by OPP showed one of the trucks with extensive damage to its front end. The front wheels of the vehicle appeared to have broken off the axle

Officials did not immediately reply when asked if anyone was injured.