Ontario Provincial Police say a 31-year-old woman is dead after she attempted to walk across live lanes of Hwy. 401 after she was involved in a collision late Friday.
OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said the two-vehicle collision occurred around 11:15 p.m. in the westbound express lanes between McCowan and Markham Roads.
It is believed an SUV crashed into a car hauling a trailer, causing the trailer to detach.
Following that initial collision, the two vehicles collided a second time before coming to a rest.
Schmidt said the woman, who was driving the SUV believed to have caused the crash, then exited her vehicle and attempted to walk across the live express lanes of the highway in an attempt to reach the collector lanes.
She was then struck by another vehicle as she attempted to cross the lanes and was pronounced dead on scene.
The driver of the other vehicle involved in the crash was uninjured.
“This is something that is obviously concerning for us as people are outside dealing with the collision, dealing with the circumstances of the initial crash, which was relatively minor, and sadly now a 31-year-old woman is dead,” Schmidt said in a video posted to Twitter on Saturday morning.
The westbound lanes of the highway were closed following the crash for the investigation.
After the highway was closed, a number of vehicles then drove through the roadblocks set up by emergency crews and were stopped by police, Schmidt said.
“Fortunately, no one was struck or there was no injuries as a result of those drivers coming through, but that could have very, very easily could have been a tragic repeat of what happened moments earlier when that pedestrian was struck,” he said.
Police are asking anyone who was driving in the area around the time of the crash and has dashcam video to send it to investigators.
They are also reminding drivers to obey road closures and remain in their vehicle if they get into a collision while driving on the highway.
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