Editor’s note: This story was updated on Oct. 31 at 12:35 p.m. with new information related to the suspect and charges laid.
One person was transported to hospital in a large crash on Highway 400 Thursday morning.
The OPP Highway Safety Division says the incident, which happened around 4:30 a.m. and involved “up to” nine vehicles, occurred in the southbound lanes, south of Highway 88.
No serious injuries were reported, though one person was hospitalized.
“It was kind of a chain reaction,” OPP Sgt. Ted Dongelmans said. “By the sounds of it, there was an initial collision involving two or three vehicles and then one of the vehicles was in a live lane with no lights and caused some other vehicles to hit it. I’m not sure if the lights were off prior to, or if the collision caused the lights to be off.”
A 36-year-old man from Scarborough has been charged with impaired and dangerous driving, as well as other Highway Traffic Act offences, Dongelmans said.
All lanes were closed following the crash, “causing extensive traffic delays,” the division said in a social-media post.
The traffic back-up also hampered the efforts of tow-truck drivers to get to the scene to haul damaged vehicles away. However, the highway was fully reopened by about 7:30 a.m.
“It took a bit to get it cleaned up,” Dongelmans said.
Aurora OPP is investigating.
“This was (allegedly) caused by an impaired driver,” Dongelmans said. “As always, we encourage people, if they see someone they believe to be impaired, to call 911.”
