OPP explains why car crashes cause lengthy highway closures

A three-vehicle collision that left one person dead and two others seriously injured near Havilland Shores Drive in Goulais Township over the weekend had some motorists questioning why the highway was closed down for so long.

A lineup of cars stretching for kilometres on both ends of Saturday’s fatal accident on Highway 17 left hundreds of travellers stranded for upwards of seven hours while emergency crews attended the scene.

Some of the drivers stuck in the road closure were so upset about the delay that they emailed SooToday to express their frustration. 

“This is utterly incomprehensible that the traffic is not allowed to move,” one motorist wrote. “There soon will be multiple emergencies with people not able to access food, water, and medication.”

Bev Gauthier, a community safety officer with the OPP detachment in Blind River, wants to remind the public that a number of different resources from various parts of the district are required to respond to serious accidents that occur on the highway — sometimes resulting in lengthy road closures.

“We’re in northern Ontario, so everything takes a little longer,” she says. “We have to take care of everybody at the scene.”

Gauthier explains that Saturday’s accident was especially serious.

“A couple people needed extraction, and that takes a while,” she says. “Every accident is different, but this had three vehicles involved. It was a bad accident.”

Because the accident occurred in Goulais near Harmony Beach, EMS and OPP were stationed a half hour away from the accident to begin with.

Gauthier says other resources such as the OPP technical collision investigation team, tow truck services, and cleanup crews are also required at crash scenes — and all have wait times of their own.

Some motorists criticized the OPP for its lack of communication, saying they received no updates on wait-times, either in-person or online.

While she wasn’t personally on scene, Gauthier says officers will normally keep communication lines open with people waiting in the lineup.

“Officers should have the courtesy to go around and let people know what’s going on,” Gauthier says.

Throughout Saturday afternoon and into the evening, Ontario 511 appeared to be the only reliable source for online updates. Its Twitter account released three notable updates regarding the status of the accident: one shortly after 3 p.m. to announce the closure, another around 9 p.m. announcing one lane had been opened, and a final update that traffic was flowing in both directions around 11 p.m.

Despite the tragic circumstances resulting from the accident, SooToday received several emails from frustrated motorists waiting in the lineup.

“I feel for some elderly folk and others who have been stuck here for so long,” one woman noted.

“Not trying to sound insensitive to the parties involved, but there has to be a way to get these hundreds of people off of the highway,” another man added.