The day of heavy snow for the winter in Ontario resulted in hundreds of car accidents because of reckless or negligent driving on dangerous roads. According to a sergeant with the Ontario Provincial Police, there were more than 400 crashes investigated over a 24 hour period, not including all the cars that lost control or spun out on their own. A special weather advisory was issued by Environment Canada at the beginning of the storm, and Winter Operations advised drivers via Twitter that there would be salt trucks operating throughout the day.
The OPP sergeant said he was not aware of any crashes that resulted in serious injuries, but added that many drivers may not want to talk about their accidents because they were driving too fast. The ultimate factor to blame in almost all of the 400 car accidents, according to the sergeant, would be driver error. Ontario officials are warning drivers to allow themselves extra drive time to deal with slick roads and traffic due to crashes.
The Pearson Airport said it got 14 centimeters of snow during the storm, which is the most snowfall it has reported prior to November 11th of any winter. Most of the car accidents that were reported were single-vehicle accidents that involved the vehicle sliding into a guardrail or ditch. The Weather Network twitter account said many of the drivers seemed to be unprepared for winter road conditions.
People in Ontario who are injured in winter car accidents might have legal claims for recovery for lost wages, pain and suffering, medical bills or other damages. A lawyer who has experience in personal injury law might be able to help by communicating with at-fault drivers or their insurers to pursue a monetary settlement or by gathering evidence in anticipation of trial. A lawyer might also draft and file a lawsuit for recovery in cases where settlement is not reached.
