An accident on the westbound hwy 401 between Brockville and Mallorytown changed our plans yesterday. We were headed to Kingston, but ended up sitting in an Enroute (gas station and snack bar) parking lot for 3 hours, then were finally able to turn around and come back home..
This picture, provided by the Ottawa Citizen, shows the two tractor trailers that collided early in the morning. One was a mail truck, whose contents ended up spread across the 401 for hours. Another vehicle involved was carrying oil, so a hazmat team was there too; I assume the white stuff in the picture is to soak up the flammable oil. Although the accident happened in the early morning hours, the highway was still closed at 4pm. When we left the area, Canada Post employees were on site picking up the mail.
Here are some pictures I took at the site…
The moral of this story is to check the news or conditions of the highways before heading out on a long trip. I do this for road conditions affected by weather this time of year, but never thought to do so for accidents. There are several websites that update highway conditions regularly, the link I use is highlighted.
please be sure to visit my slightly more humorous blog YOUR DAILY CHUCKLE It is guaranteed to make you LOL.
there is someone, somewhere, insisting, “really, sir, the check is in the mail!!!”
hopefully not
Glad you were safe! We have found a few times if we are stuck in traffic to stop at a rest area and ask truckers if there is an alternate route around the area and often they can direct us off the highway to get around the backups. They are usually the first to know what is going on up ahead.
Yucky! Glad you were safe!