Pigs escape from highway crash

From Toronto Star:

The eastbound lanes of Highway 401 through Mississauga are expected to remain clogged throughout the afternoon following a crash involving a tractor trailer hauling pigs, the second recent accident involving livestock on a GTA road.

Monday morning’s crash occurred near Winston Churchill Blvd. Ontario Provincial Police originally shut down all eastbound and westbound lanes, but then re-opened the westbound ones.

“About 8 a.m. this morning, Highway 401 eastbound was slowing down as it usually does in morning rush hour,” OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley told CTV.ca Toronto.

“A tractor-trailer travelling eastbound, hauling livestock, for some reason failed to slow down and slammed into slower traffic, virtually crushing a full-sized pickup and ramming a car and a large van.

“The tractor-trailer then hurtled over to the left lane and rolled onto its right side, with the cab bursting into flames,” he said.

“The driver escaped — along with about 50 to 60 pigs.”

The pickup truck driver suffered very serious injuries. The car driver was also injured, and the van and tractor trailer driver suffered minor injuries. All four were taken to hospital, Woolley said….

…most of pigs have been corralled now. A livestock truck has been commandeered to haul them away.

See The Whole Hog by Lyall Watson.

Brinks truck rolls over

Brinks truck rollover traps three inside
Sunday March 30, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff

A Brinks truck rolled off a highway in the city’s west end Sunday, trapping three people inside.

A firefighter uses a sledgehammer to smash the window of the armored vehicle to try and free two Brinks guards stuck in the back of the truck. Crews had a difficult time trying to free those inside.

“They look like they went for quite a ride,” said Toronto EMS worker Glen Gillies. “They got tossed around quite a bit in the truck and with it being an armoured car, you can imagine it’s a pretty rough ride.”

The accident happened late Sunday afternoon on the northbound Highway 427 ramp at Highway 409.

Crews also had a tough time trying to free the driver from the wreck, and he sustained non-life threatening head injuries. The trio was taken by ambulance to Sunnybrook Hospital.

Pilates lesson and crunch

LotStreetWiz is in Sacramento, so I went to Pilates alone (after buying a phone charger for my son). We had seven people in the class. The teacher says I’m getting the hang of it.

After the class I dropped off the charger and went home. Driving in the snowy streets is still something of an adventure. In fact, this afternoon a garbage truck sideswiped a car that was parked too far out because of the snow.

Here’s a look from a different angle, where you can see that the truck and car are too close:

Feb 12th, 2008

It has been snowing since I woke up. In spite of snow tires, it took twice as long as usual to drive to the STC general meeting, so I came in just at the end. I picked up the handout and demolished a few sandwiches and crunchy vegetables, followed by a handful of strawberries.
A group of us, including tonight’s speaker, went across the street to the Milestones restaurant and had some appetizers. I had a soft drink since I was driving that evening. The conversation was lively and wide-ranging. Finally about 10:30 p.m. we separated. I gave the speaker a ride down to her hotel, so she could see a bit of the city instead of taking the subway. Then, on the way home, I reached our local grocery store about 11:30 p,m. and bought a few things.

At the house, I tramped out a path for the tires to our parking slip, then drove in and made it on the first try. I checked the cat door, which is in a cellar window: blocked. I went outside and dug down to it. The snow beside the house is higher than my boot-tops. Then I took a shovel and cleaned off the front walk, plus a narrow path to the house. By that time, one cat had ventured outside but the snow was too deep for him to go far. I was hot from shovelling, so I leaned on he porch railing and watched him search for snow-mice and jump for snowflakes. Then I put away the groceries and called it a night. The cat came in, too, and he and his brother spent fifteen minutes bouncing out of ambush and chasing each other all over the house.

Trip summary

Our round trip contained these legs:

1. Toronto, Ontario, to Research Triangle Park, North Carolina: 800 miles in 13 hours
2. Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, to Key West, Florida: 1000 miles in 15¼ hours
3. Key West, Florida, to Coral Springs, Florida: 190 miles in 3 ²/₃ hours
4. Coral Springs, Florida, to Savannah, Georgia: 460 miles in 7 hours
5. Savannah, Georgia, via Charleston, South Carolina, to Wilmington, North Carolia: 280 miles in 5½ hours
6. Wilmington, North Carolia, to Washington, D.C.: 390 miles in 6 hours
7. Washington, D.C., to West Chester, Pennsylvania: 125 miles in 2½ hours
8. West Chester, Pennsylvania, to Toronto, Ontario: 505 miles in 8 ¹/₃ hours

Total: 3750 miles in 60¼ hours. These are driving times only. Add restroom breaks, meals, driver changes, missed turns, sightseeing, buying a few things, scenic routes, and traffic / toll / border delays.

Wedding invitation

I’ve been invited to the wedding of a cousin in Grande Prairie, Alberta. We’ve just had a successful driving vacation. For a moment I contemplated driving out west. But LotStreetWiz tells me that one way would be almost as far as the round trip we just completed–down to the Florida Keys and back. Mapquest tells me it’s almost forty hours of driving. I guess I’ll have to fly, if I can go.

Back in Toronto!

I’m glad to report that we got a good start from West Chester, Pennsylvania, this morning. The skies were grey and there was some rain, frost, and signs of snow but never ice on the roads, which had been salted. With ten hours of steady driving got safely back to Toronto.

In West Chester, Pennsylvania

I had a great time yesterday looking at all the exhibits at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C.

Then we drove to West Chester, PA. We arrived safely around 7:30 p.m. after driving through rush-hour traffic, then onto twisting highways, and finally small, winding roads through hills.

Travel day: Washington to Pennsylvania

After the museum, it’s a short drive in the cold rain to our friends in Pennsylvania.

Travel day: North Carolina to Washington, D.C.

We’re on the road again, heading for the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C.