Ontario Provincial Police in southwestern Ontario have reported a rise in drivers ignoring road closures and failing to move over for emergency vehicles and tow trucks. Police in the OPP’s West Region have recorded 173 incidents of drivers travelling on closed roads so far this year, just 65 fewer than the total for all of last year, which was a 10-year high. OPP’s West Region detachment covers areas of southwestern Ontario that are not patrolled by municipal police services. As of October, the OPP have charged 258 drivers this year for failing to move over for emergency vehicles and tow trucks, surpassing the 228 charges recorded in all of 2025. Al Pinheiro, a towing manager with Active Towing in Kitchener, said drivers often ignore safety measures put in place to protect roadside workers. “If we are on the side of the road for any length of time, we do put pylons out on the road,” Pinheiro said. He said his team also deploys warning lights and ensures workers wear high-visibility vests, but those precautions do not always stop motorists from approaching closed areas. “We’ve worked a lot of closed scene accidents where the roads are barricaded at both ends and we still have vehicles that will drive up and ask you to kind of move out of their way,” he said. Pinheiro said ignoring road closures puts workers and drivers at risk, adding that the consequences of a collision can be devastating for everyone involved. “It’s a blatant disregard for human life,” he said. The increase in drivers failing to slow down and move over is also being noticed by CAA South Central Ontario. “Unfortunately at the end of 2025 and into 2026, ourselves and our emergency responder colleagues all noted increases in incidents of drivers failing to slow down and move over,” said Michael Stewart of CAA South Central Ontario. Stewart said drivers who fail to comply face a minimum $400 fine, demerit points and potential jail time depending on the severity of the incident. The warnings come after CTV Kitchener camera operator Dave Pettitt was struck last week after a driver allegedly went past a road closure. Later that night, another vehicle reportedly failed to stop at barricades at the same road closure and collided with a vehicle blocking the roadway, according to the OPP. The incidents were among several reported by police that week. Ontario is expanding its Slow Down, Move Over law on Jan. 1, 2027, to include additional roadside workers and vehicles stopped with flashing amber lights activated. The changes will cover roadside assistance vehicles, utility vehicles, highway maintenance vehicles and waste collection trucks. CAA is also piloting variable-message signs on tow trucks across Ontario to assess whether increased visibility and roadside messaging can encourage drivers to move over more consistently. Pinheiro said the goal is simple. “We just want to be safe, go home and keep everyone else around us safe as well,” he said.
