Ontario Provincial Police say a driver has been charged with impaired driving causing death following a fatal two-vehicle collision on Highway 404 in Aurora.
Emergency crews responded to the scene at 2:15 a.m. on Friday on the northbound lanes of the highway at Aurora Road.
OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said a vehicle was travelling on the right-hand lane when another vehicle approached from behind and slammed into the rear. Both vehicles ended up in the right ditch.
“This is a rear-end type of collision where the victim was driving along in the right-hand lane, really minding their own business, and was slammed into the back by this suspected impaired driver,” Schmidt said.
Police said a 41-year-old woman, who was later identified as Jenny Dixon, was a wife and mother of three from Newmarket. She was ejected from one of the vehicles. Dixon was located without vital signs and pronounced dead at the scene.
“Although she does appear to have been wearing her seatbelt at the time, the driver was pronounced dead at the scene,” Schmidt said.
A 37-year-old female driver of the other vehicle suffered minor injuries and was placed under arrest.
Schmidt said Shanshan Xia, of Newmarket, was charged with impaired driving causing death, dangerous driving causing death, criminal negligence causing death and driving ov 80mg/alc in 100ml/blood causing death. Xia appeared in a Newmarket court on Friday and was released on $50,000 bail. Under her conditions of release, she can’t leave Ontario or operate a vehicle.
Xia is scheduled to appear in court again on Nov. 28.
“This is just one of those situations where someone has decided to drink and drive,” Schmidt said. “Speed is considered to be a factor here as well and someone else has paid with their life.”
The cause of the crash is under investigation but police said they believe speed and alcohol are factors.
“There’s a lot of evidence, a lot of tire marks and debris all across the highway at this point,” Schmidt said.
The northbound stretch of highway was closed during the morning rush hour for the investigation and reopened at 10:30 a.m. Friday.
A GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign was launched to support Dixon’s children.
According to a statement by Bill McCorkell, the campaign organizer, Dixon worked as a nurse and was leaving her shift at a hospice.
“Jenn spent her entire career making sure people were at peace and taken care of in their end of life. She wasn’t given that same respect,” the statement said.
“She lost her life suddenly because of someone else’s poor decision to drive drunk.”