An elderly woman caught driving the wrong way down a busy, snowy stretch of Highway 401 near Kitchener, Ont. will not be facing charges.
A family driving in the same direction but on on the correct side of the highway captured a video of the incident and posted it to Facebook Saturday afternoon.
The video shows the car driving at high speed along the highway shoulder, flying past dozens of cars and tractor trailers. A man in the car is heard yelling, “Oh no, oh no,” every time it appears as though the car is about to crash head-on with another.
Photos
Video captures wrong-way driver
Video uploaded to Facebook showing a wrong-way driver on Highway 401
In the end, no one was hurt before police were able to pull the driver over.
The family who shot the video called 911 as they drove to report the driver, who they said appeared to be an elderly woman.
“Not sure how she got turned around like this but we did slow down and drive parallel to her till the cops approached her head on and got her stopped,” the Facebook post read.
Ontario Provincial Police pulled the driver over, and say she appears to have been confused. They said they would not be laying charges.
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. (Bertrand Russell). Sweet Loretta fart thought she was a cleaner, but she was a frying pan. (John Lennon)
I'm a bit unclear on why exactly she wasn't charged. I somehow doubt that if I was confused and driving at high speeds in the wrong direction down the 401 I'd be walking away without charges.
I'm a bit unclear on why exactly she wasn't charged. I somehow doubt that if I was confused and driving at high speeds in the wrong direction down the 401 I'd be walking away without charges.
I suspect that by "confused", they mean she suffers from dementia.
I have long believed that there needs to be tougher regulations for elderly drivers. Say what you will about the safety records of younger drivers, but conditions such as vision loss, blackouts, amd dementia are far more likely to happen to grandma and grandpa than Johnny with a new G2.
I was almost the victim of what would likely have been a fatal car crash years ago when I was with my grandfather and he blew through a stop sign he couldn't see, and his hearing was so bad he couldn't hear my grandmother and I yelling at him to stop. We narrowly missed being hit by a dump truck which would have hit my side of the car had we been hit. My grandfather was over 80 and had already passed several 80+ drivers tests without any problems.
There have been many other cases where as a pedestrian I've been almost hit by an elderly driver, or I've been stuck behind someone driving 30-40 km below the speed limit. I am not one to call the police but after I was almost hit by an elderly driver while crossing a street legally, I called the police. It's very unfortunate that some families enable these people and put everyone else in danger just so Grandma can attempt to live independently when she clearly is no longer able.
I have long believed that there needs to be tougher regulations for elderly drivers. Say what you will about the safety records of younger drivers, but conditions such as vision loss, blackouts, amd dementia are far more likely to happen to grandma and grandpa than Johnny with a new G2.
I was almost the victim of what would likely have been a fatal car crash years ago when I was with my grandfather and he blew through a stop sign he couldn't see, and his hearing was so bad he couldn't hear my grandmother and I yelling at him to stop. We narrowly missed being hit by a dump truck which would have hit my side of the car had we been hit. My grandfather was over 80 and had already passed several 80+ drivers tests without any problems.
There have been many other cases where as a pedestrian I've been almost hit by an elderly driver, or I've been stuck behind someone driving 30-40 km below the speed limit. I am not one to call the police but after I was almost hit by an elderly driver while crossing a street legally, I called the police. It's very unfortunate that some families enable these people and put everyone else in danger just so Grandma can attempt to live independently when she clearly is no longer able.
Running the video at 3X hides some of the instability. Deerfoot is generally in good condition, so that helps and I use my iPhone 6S to film and I think it has some kind of image stabilization (correct me if I'm wrong).
I remember seeing that along Autoroute 20 at a young age and being fascinated by it. Will it remain that way as the Turcot interchange is being rebuilt? Great photo to whoever took it...
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