One dead following major vehicle pile-up on 401 in Kingston
One person is confirmed dead and several others injured following a major vehicle pile-up in the westbound lanes of Highway 401 in the Kingston area on the afternoon of Sunday, December 1, 2019.
OPP, Frontenac Paramedics, Kingston Police and Kingston Fire & Rescue responded to the area of the 401 between Highway 15 and Montreal St following reports of a serious collision involving 30 to 40 vehicles shortly after 2:30 p.m.
Frontenac Paramedics said that 10 of their crews responded to the scene and treated 16 patients, including 3 with life-threatening injuries. OPP has now confirmed that one of the victims perished from their injuries. As a result of the collision, Matthew Robert Jamieson, a 33 year old from Nova Scotia, died at the scene.
Kingston General Hospital was placed under a Code Orange, which is a protocol intended to prepare the hospital to deal with mass casualties due to an incident external to the hospital.
Kingston Transit also responded with several buses to assist in sheltering at least 100 affected travellers in the white-out conditions. Those travellers were transported to the Rideau Heights Community Centre and assisted by the Red Cross in finding temporary accommodations.
The westbound lanes of the 401 remain closed throughout Sunday evening and into Monday morning. They were reopened at around 5 a.m.
Just stay off of the 401 whenever it snows. Period.
Who was the person who died
It states it quite clearly in the article.
Ban transports on the 401 when there is a weather advisory and conditions are clearly dangerous. The transport truck driver DO NOT drive to the conditions. These truckers put other drivers at risk. I just did the drive from Mississauga to Ottawa and every transport decided to pass me at ridiculous speeds.
It’s not transport driver’s fault all the time.
You are an uneducated fool. Try watching how you idiots in cars drive and cut trucks off and brake check them.
That stretch is a disaster waiting to happen..With trucks and cars flying through the construction zone of the bridge work as well as trucks and cars not moving over to allow vehicles to merge from the HWY15 on ramp there should be multiple accidents daily.
AGREED! We did the same drive and were passed by several transports driving at extremely unsafe speeds for the conditions. Infuriating!
Pauline M. And the Government and Transportation are talking and wanting to increase the speed on 401 and busy Highway’s when in effect this crazy unbelievable decision will be the cause of more casualties and death traps that could be and should be prevented .
Love these pansy assed car drivers whoare scared of the weather and drive so far below the speed limit that they infringe on other people. Professional truck drivers know what they are doing. Why not you, the fair weather car driver, stay at home on snowy days! Do you know the cost to business if trucks had to park so you can go visit granny? The cost would be handed down to the consumer and then you would be screaming about that….They have a job to do, get out of their way.
It is not just the transport drivers I have talked to a few of my friends that drive Transports and it is the training they get now the older drivers know how to drive in this weather but the newer drivers are not given the proper training anymore and also I have drivin to Toronto and back servel times and the ones in cars and half ton trucks are also to blame they don’t allow enough space when passing even in good weather so don’t just blame transports it is everyone.
I refuse to drive the 401 in bad weather. I’d get off and stay in a hotel if I had to. There are way too many irresponsible, crazy drivers out there that think they are invincible or that don’t value their lives or the lives of others. I’ve witnessed it one too many times. As for the transports, it’s too bad it wasn’t like some places in the statea where they have their own lane and must stay in it!!!
People shouldn’t be only blaming transport drivers, I have many in my family. I will admit some of them are not trained how to deal with the sudden change in weather, but don’t always blame them. ALOT of normal every day people are just as much to blame sometimes, weaving in and out of traffic, cutting off transports, riding their breaks, not going the proper speed. They are just as much to blame as anyone else.
With that all being said, I’m sad to hear that a member of our military died on the scene and that many more were injured and stranded during the storm. My thoughts and prayers are with all their families and I hope they recover and are able to join their families soon.
People need to drive according to weather and road conditions! If that means going 20 km/h, then so be it. Driving faster than the distance you can see in front of you and brake safely, is ridiculous, not to mention tailgating other vehicles.