A motorist’s dash cam captured a fiery big rig vs. highway barrier crash that occurred early Wednesday morning in Toronto.
The crash occurred just before 3 a.m. on June 19 on Highway 401 westbound in Toronto, Ontario.
COLLISION / FIRE: #Hwy401 WB, express lanes west of DVP/#Hwy404 #Toronto closed due to a tractor trailer fire. Tractor trailer collided with highway barrier. Driver transported to hospital, minor injuries. Closure until approx noon for clean up. #TorontoOPP investigating. ^nm pic.twitter.com/dJlSlz9dRd
— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) June 19, 2024
According to OPP, a tractor trailer collided with a highway barrier in the express lanes. The area is expected to be closed for most of the day, Schmidt said. Drivers in the eastbound lanes of the highway can exit at Brock Road and get back on by taking the on-ramp and the off-ramp. For drivers in the westbound lanes, they will be forced off at Highway 412 but can get back on at Liverpool Road.
There were two other westbound vehicles that got tangled up within that mess with that fire and oil and flammable liquid basically spraying all across the highway and into these vehicles, which is what we believe right now may have triggered these two vehicles to catch fire.
The Ministry of Transportation is conducting its own investigation on the structural engineering and cleaning up of the highway. Schmidt said the ministry will determine when the highway can reopen, but so far no official reopening time has been announced.
The truck immediately caught fire upon impact. The truck driver survived the collision with only minor injuries. You can see dash cam video of the crash below.