Deadly crash closes Highway 401

A reporter quoted one person on Hwy 401 at the site of the deadly crash (caused by a truck) that people were driving slowly. Perhaps the car drivers were. But I highly doubt the truckers were. Why do I say that? Because of my experience along that eastern stretch of Hwy 401 during a snowstorm several years ago when 401 was not quite yet a wall of semis flowing east to west and west to east, and traffic was bad but not yet the nightmare it is today.

If one was walking that evening long ago, the snow looked magical, falling in soft flakes and sparkling on the ground. But when driving, the snow flew at the windshield and buried the road and ditches, diminishing visibility seriously. We had to open the passenger-side door at times to see where the ditch was. We could not see the division of the two lanes, as the snow covered lane markings and erased the distinction between middle divider and highway; we only knew which lane we were in by the red tail-lights in front of us. Cars crawled along the right lane. Truckers flew down the left lane, blowing past us, whipping the snow up, and shaking our car. What the hell were they thinking?

Related posts:

1. It finally happened near me
2. Shy’s Good, Bad and Ugly #7
3. Funny What a Little Snow Can Do…
4. SNOW! Part II
5. Musings on Taxes, Snow, and Garbage