The drivers of road maintenance vehicles on the night shift likely saved a life on Friday after boxing in an elderly driver heading the wrong way on Highway 400, police say.
Police said the OPP detachment in Aurora received a call about a driver going north in the southbound lanes on Highway 400 near 5th Line, southwest of Bradford.
Before officers got to the scene, MTO maintenance crews spotted the vehicle and were able to box it in with their trucks and get it stopped, police said.
Officers got to the scene and determined the driver was not impaired.
The driver was an elderly male who was “confused and disoriented”, police said.
He had been reported missing from his family a few hours earlier, according to the OPP Highway Safety Division.
Police said the man was able to be reunited with his family after the incident.
“Thanks to those crews that got this vehicle stopped, boxed it in and prevented likely a tragedy. Thank you for what you do,” an officer said on Twitter.
The officer urged drivers to watch out for and give space to the the crews, whose duties normally are confined to tasks like picking up debris at collision scenes or placing pylons at construction sites or lane closures.
