It was a dicey morning on the roads Thursday with snowy conditions leading to multiple crashes that temporarily shut down sections of both Highway 401 and 402 in the London region.
Snow began falling across southwestern Ontario early in the morning, covering roads and making conditions slick.
The first report of a crash came in around 6:30 a.m. on the 401 near Veterans Memorial Parkway. No injuries were reported and it was cleared relatively quickly. However, it was just the beginning of a busy morning for OPP officers.
Middlesex OPP were called to a collision in the eastbound lanes of Highway 402 at Longwoods Road, southwest of London that saw a transport truck end up blocking both lanes. With eastbound traffic unable to get through, a long line of vehicles that stretched several kilometres formed behind the crash. On the highway at Glendon Drive a multi-vehicle crash had traffic crawling.
"All throughout the 402 we have collisions," said Middlesex OPP Constable Jeff Hare. "The snow is falling, the roads are slippery. Please, please slow down your speeds, drive with respect and let's all get to where we are going as safely as possible."
That plea to drivers was echoed by Constable Brett Phair in Elgin County where another crash shut down the eastbound lanes of Highway 401 at Furnival Road near Rodney.
"These crashes keep happening simply because people aren't adopting the winter-driving mindset," said Phair. "You can see it is snowing, we know the roads are slick, we know that the roads are snow covered across the county. What we need every driver to do is slow down, add some time, add some distance and be patient while you're on the road."
All east and westbound lanes of the 402 were reopened shortly after 1 p.m. The eastbound 401 at Furnival Road was reopened around 1:30 p.m.
There were two separate collisions involving school buses - one at Quaker Road and Talbot Line and the other at Talbot Line and Belmont Road. While there were students on board the bus on Quaker, none were hurt.
Despite all of the collisions and vehicles sliding into ditches, police said there were no serious injuries.
Environment Canada forecast about 2 centimetres to fall throughout the morning before it was to stop in the afternoon. The reprieve is expected to be brief with periods of snow set to begin falling again overnight. The national weather agency said between 5 to 10 centimetres of snow is likely to fall throughout the day Friday.
