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The westbound lanes of Highway 401 east of London were snarled for seven hours on Thursday after a crash involving several vehicles amid heavy snowfall, Ontario Provincial Police say.
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Police on Friday issued new details about the collision, which they had previously called the most serious of all the ones that occurred in the London area during a blast of wintry weather that lasted throughout the day Thursday and into early Friday.
Police say it was about 1 p.m. on Thursday when emergency crews responded to the multi-vehicle crash at Putnam Road and Pigram Line in Thames Centre, near Dorchester. The aftermath blocked all three lanes and tied up the 401’s westbound traffic for seven hours, police said.
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One driver was taken to hospital with injuries that were initially considered life-threatening but were later considered less serious, police said.
The highway was closed between Highway 19 in Oxford County and Westchester Bourne as tow companies removed vehicles involved and officers assisted motorists off the highway at Culloden Road.
One big storm, 162 crashes: Ontario Provincial Police
Ontario Provincial Police broke down the crash statistics from Thursday to Friday morning across what it calls West region – an area that covers much of Southwestern Ontario:
There were 162 crashes between 7 a.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. Friday, police said.
There was only one fatal collision in the London region during the storm: It happened when a snow plow and a passenger vehicle collided on Perth Line 86 in a rural area near Listowel at about 6 a.m. on Thursday. The plow operator was unhurt but police said a 33-year-old from nearby Gowanstown who was driving the other vehicle was killed.
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