Durham police say speed may have been a factor in fatal Scugog crash

Two people are dead after what police say was a fiery crash in Scugog Township.

Investigators say the crash happened around 8 a.m. Thursday morning on Simcoe Road North at Old Simcoe Road.  Const. George Tudos says the crash involved a Volkswagen four-door vehicle and a white pickup truck.

The impact caused the truck to catch fire.

“The pickup truck ended up going off the roadway,” says Tudos. “It ended up going up in flames as officers arrived. That person, the driver, was deceased in that vehicle.”

Investigators say the Volkswagen had an elderly couple in it. The driver of the other vehicle, an elderly woman, was taken to a local trauma centre with critical injuries by air ambulance.

Tudos says officers attempted to help, but the 71-year-old Lindsay man didn’t make it.

“Officers and a citizen were performing CPR and unfortunately that person succumbed to their injuries.”

Police shut down the road for several hours as a forensics team pieced together the evidence.

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Police now believe speed may have played a factor in the crash — a fact that isn’t all too surprising to residents who live at the intersection, Heather Elvins and Edwin Harris.

“They just go ripping through here, one direction and then the other,” says Harris. The area where the crash happened has a posted speed limit of 80 km/h, but the couple, who have lived there for nearly 10 years, say it sometimes feels more like a racetrack.

“Flag drops and then they’re off,” Elvins said. “Sometimes it’s a challenge to get in and out of our driveway.”

Police are still looking for witnesses who may have seen the crash.