More than 200 crashes in under 12 hours in southwestern Ontario
OPP West region responded to 213 collisions Monday before the evening rush had even begun
During one of the first big snow falls of the season, provincial police reported 213 collisions in less than 12 hours across southwestern Ont., all before the evening rush hour had even begun.
OPP Media Relations Coordinator Derek Rogers said police patrolling the West Region had hoped drivers would have adjusted their habits behind the wheel after the first dusting of snow late last week.
"That has not been the case," he explained pointing to the numbers coming from in an area that spans from Windsor to the edge of the GTA and north to Georgian Bay.
The 213 crashes happened between 5:45 a.m. and 4:15 p.m, and none of them resulted in life-threatening injuries.
In one instance, a 3-week old baby was inside an SUV pushed off the road in Norfolk County by a driver in a pickup truck who fled the scene.
3 week old child uninjured after black pickup truck pushes SUV off the roadway on Queensway East <a href="https://twitter.com/NorfolkCountyCA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NorfolkCountyCA</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OPP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OPP</a> searching for driver of truck. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DriveSafe?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DriveSafe</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PayAttention?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PayAttention</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NorfolkOPP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NorfolkOPP</a> ^es <a href="https://t.co/D4YDIEkxa8">pic.twitter.com/D4YDIEkxa8</a>
—@OPP_WRWhile many people were quick to blame the weather for the significant number, Rogers blamed driver error.
"A lot of these collisions, if not all of them, didn't need to happen," he said.
Rogers is urging drivers to slow down and to drive according to the conditions. He said it's crucial to have time to react if something happens suddenly.
According to Environment Canada, the snow is expected to end late Monday evening with a small chance of flurries Tuesday morning.