Fatal collision Hwy 11 at Severn Bridge.

[torch]

Highway 11 was closed in both directions today for many hours following what was described on the radio as a "horrific" accident. A tractor trailer hit a small tractor with snow clearing equipment, killing the operator. I hope it was nobody from here, but it's just as tragic if it wasn't.

From photos and personal knowledge of the area, my guess is the small orange, open station tractor was likely being roaded along the highway rather than clearing the end of a driveway. The shoulders disappear at the bridge and while the speed limit is 90kph, traffic regularly travels at 110 to 120kph along that stretch. (Transports are supposed to be governed at 105, but there's many that find a way around that.)

Please be careful out there and don't put yourself in that kind of situation.

 

[DustyRusty]

Link to pictures and article.

Deadly collision on Hwy 11 in Severn Township forces lane closures

One person is dead and another in the hospital following a bizarre chain of events along Highway 11 in Severn Township Thursday morning.

barrie.ctvnews.ca

 

[mcfarmall]

I plow my driveway after dark so I can see traffic on the road better. The only time I'm in the street is when clearing around the mailbox.

 

[torch]

It is completely speculation on my part, but I don't think he was clearing a driveway at the time, unless the wreckage was carried north for a mile or so before the transport came to a stop. It snowed all day the day before and I suspect he was roading it, possibly had a few driveways to do on each side of the river (a lot of cottages front that river). That bridge is the only access to Cowbell Lane from the south without a detour of many, many miles.

Perhaps he has even done this without incident for years prior. As far as I know, it would be perfectly legal, provided he had the required SMV signage. But just because something is "legal" does not necessarily mean it is "safe". I drive that road twice a week and vehicles -- even police cruisers -- fly by me when I'm doing 100. Please be careful out there.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

It is very sad when this happens. Looks like trucker was in the right lane ,not paying 100% attention and ohchit ! happened.
A guy driving his fresh 63 vette was 'watching the gauges', didn't see me stopped, signals on to turn left. Rearends me, I get out, no damage to my JEEP, whole front end of vette, 1000s of cracks,I felt bad for him, but was his fault.
Down here, girl 'jaywalked' across the highway, got killed. She didn't hear the snowplow truck(had Walkman on, yeah, this was that long ago). City reduced highway speed from 100 down to 40 and added pedestrian crossing with signals.

I'm the 'hidden driveway' on the corner on a road ,then goes straight for 1/2 mile. Always back into my driveway,so I can poke my nose out then safely get onto the road. My grandaughter(16 at the time),always just drove in, backed out. I explained why that was a BAD idea(x3) and said I'll give you $5 everytime you back in. She's made 1000 off me since then.

 

[skeets]

And people wonder why people hate truckers, they drive like fools

 

[mcfarmall]

I wasn't inferring that the subject was plowing his driveway. I was stating my methods for when I am on or around a public roadway in general.

 

[NCL4701]

Always hated driving off-road equipment on road, particularly small tractors like mine (even though it outweighs cars and most pickups). I know a lot depends on conditions and area being traversed but in the area I live, I’ll trailer it 5 miles instead of driving and won’t road it at all without using a trailing escort vehicle although I’ve known victims or been involved in the cleanup of a couple of scenarios where the equipment driver was injured or killed even with a trailing escort. The difference in speed and lack of operator collision protection on tractors make the small ones pretty dangerous on many roads. If running a 200hp tractor pulling a 30’ folded disc down the road, that’s a different issue.

 

[mikester]

Highway 11 was closed in both directions today for many hours following what was described on the radio as a "horrific" accident. A tractor trailer hit a small tractor with snow clearing equipment, killing the operator. I hope it was nobody from here, but it's just as tragic if it wasn't.

From photos and personal knowledge of the area, my guess is the small orange, open station tractor was likely being roaded along the highway rather than clearing the end of a driveway. The shoulders disappear at the bridge and while the speed limit is 90kph, traffic regularly travels at 110 to 120kph along that stretch. (Transports are supposed to be governed at 105, but there's many that find a way around that.)

Please be careful out there and don't put yourself in that kind of situation.

Far too often I get numb-nuts thinking it's ok to drive out their SCUTS onto the road without looking. Even worse a lot of these guys are pushing their snow onto the public roads and/or pushing it across the road onto someone else's property/ditch.

I wish our county bylaw enforcement officers would start handing out their $300 fines for dumping snow on the roads. Easy for a car to hit these piles and lose control.

It is very sad when this happens. Looks like trucker was in the right lane ,not paying 100% attention and ohchit !

Trucker might have been paying 100% attention. Good luck stopping when some clueless tractor operator does the unexpected aiming for a Darwin award.

 

[DustyRusty]

The SMV (slow-moving vehicle) signs are just about worthless. By the time that you see the sign, you are already very close to the vehicle that has it mounted on the rear. I recently installed a LED rooftop strip light on the room of my BX, and I never go out on the public road, but we share a very long and winding common driveway, and some of the people on the driveway think that it is a race track.
I had one neighbor hit my car at the top of the driveway where the town put a stop sign up so people wouldn't just pull out onto the public road. He swung a hard right to enter the driveway and slammed right into me as I slowly approached the stop sign. Certainly glad that I have a dashcam that recorded the event. His first claim was that I was on the wrong side of the driveway, and it was my fault. When I told him that it is recorded on the dashcam, he changed his tune and wrote me a check for the damages rather than have his insurance pay the claim.
Cars might be safer today than they were 50 years ago, but drivers today have become a lot more dangerous because they believe that they can survive an automobile crash because of seat belts and airbags. To me, that is a false sense of security, because you can still die in an automobile accident.

 

[Hkb82]

Wow that’s pretty harsh. I don’t think the tractor was removing snow or pushing it across hwy 11. Last time I checked plows do the snow work on hwy 11. Also find it hard to believe some noob tractor owner would be out on hwy11. Snow removal guys have to do it to get to certain roads and cottages without having to trailer their equipment been doing it for years perfectly legal
Aside from the news story I have no idea what happened but judging from the pics it wasn’t good and the truck hit with some good force behind it. .
Maybe both trucker and tractor operator made stupid decisions that day but calling him a clueless tractor operator without actually knowing the situation is just being disrespectful.

 

[bbxlr8]

I plow my driveway after dark so I can see traffic on the road better. The only time I'm in the street is when clearing around the mailbox.

Not my tractor, but I was hit in my Jeep in the street at the end of my driveway while plowing after the 2016 MAJOR storm dumped official 36" and actually closer to 48" on my part of the ridge

Conditions:

• It was the morning after - sunny, bright & clear
• Township trucks already cleared the road down to hardpack
• Note I'm in a BLACK Jeep with BLACK hardtop & amber rotary light (i.e. easy to see)
• Have a straightaway 100 yards in either direction.

I was backing into the drive when a millennial rich kid in a new S model Audi was pretending he was in an EU rally car hit my plow that was still 1/3 out in the lane so hard that I fully spun around. He caught just the plow inside headlight about the grill edge and took off the front half of the car to behind the wheel. My only damage was to the fender from the debris! flying off his car.

I was HOT!! & Actually got the local police to come out to document They then proceeded to apologetically put fault on ME as I was in the Right of Way and my insurance had to cover this snot. His story was that he was "cautiously" going to his parents house at a normal speed and I pulled out in front of him I was respectfully pissed off and let them know it. They said he couldn't have been speeding as your vehicle isn't even damaged. However, in the big picture, no one was hurt... I am paranoid about clearing or turning around out there even 5 years later. I don't like plowing at night if I don't have to.

When I do have to road my tractors, I try to minimize and hurry even with signage and flashing lights as there are lots of idiots out there. I am zoned rural and have farms around me so tractors are occasional sights. But there is also more & more development; and the road I am on gets lots of traffic around commute times.

 

[DustyRusty]

Personally, I think that nighttime is actually safer if you have the proper warning equipment on the tractor. The reasoning is that the flashing lights can be seen a lot further away than they can be in daylight.

 

[ctfjr]

Personally, I think that nighttime is actually safer if you have the proper warning equipment on the tractor. The reasoning is that the flashing lights can be seen a lot further away than they can be in daylight.

I have always put on my flashers and night lighting (led floods front and rear) whenever I have to leave my driveway and enter the street to turn around or clear the mailbox even though we are in a cul-de-sac. The town plow guys aren't so bad but some of the private guys that plow the other driveways in the circle are real cowboys.

 

[torch]

I'm sure the cops have their hands full investigating this. For the record, there's good sightlines down the hill approaching the bridge -- when the weather is clear.

But it had snowed all the day before there and may well have still been snow in the air. Certainly I had to use my WW fluid constantly, as dirty salt spray kept coating the windshield. If the tractor had been blowing snow prior to entering the highway, any flashing lights or SMV sign may well have been covered with a layer of snow. There's a good chance the truck was speeding (see earlier comments), he may have been peeing in a bottle, or talking on a cell phone, or over-tired -- or maybe his view was obstructed by traffic ahead, or the tractor swerved from the shoulder before the bridge onto the traveled portion.

Who knows? We don't have enough information. Whatever the contributing factors, the point is they combined into terrible consequences. The takeaway for me is that driving a low speed vehicle on a high speed highway is akin to playing Russian roulette.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: The takeaway for me is that driving a low speed vehicle on a high speed highway is akin to playing Russian roulette.

YES ! I looked at the bridge to see IF you could drive a small tractor on the 'pedestrian walkway'..... maybe, IF, it was cleared of snow, hard to tell width of the 'sidewalk', I'd be on it and NOT the 100KPH highway.

Having said that , I almost stopped to ask WHY a mother riding a bicycle with a baby in a trailer was ON the highway even though we'd paid millions to make a super safe,PAVED, barrier protected bike path well away from the 100KPH highway, didn't bother, it was too busy to stop...

 

[torch]

YES ! I looked at the bridge to see IF you could drive a small tractor on the 'pedestrian walkway'..... maybe, IF, it was cleared of snow, hard to tell width of the 'sidewalk', I'd be on it and NOT the 100KPH highway.

Not a chance. Here's a screenshot from Google maps Streetview looking north on the bridge in summer weather conditions.

 

[GeoHorn]

The SMV (slow-moving vehicle) signs are just about worthless. …

I think most drivers have no recognition of what the SMV signifies…or what it indicates.

It’s just another curious symbol of no import to them.

I think it would be better to place flashing blue strobes on the tractor if it’s not illegal in your jurisdiction.

 

[torch]

Blue used to be for snow clearing equipment in Ontario, but a decade or so ago the cops wanted blue. So now it is illegal for snow clearing equipment to have flashing blue lights on a public road unless they are under contract to the Ministry or a municipality. All others are limited to amber.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

Even worse a lot of these guys are pushing their snow onto the public roads and/or pushing it across the road onto someone else's property/ditch.
... Easy for a car to hit these piles and lose control.

Yep. I have one of those entitled creeps near me. Does it every snow and leaves a ridge right across the road on a tight curve.