‘It was very scary’: Neighbours grapple with devastating east London collision

Mustafa Al-Kaissy admits he was shocked when he checked surveillance recording from his family’s business.

“It was very scary. Honestly, I was heartbroken for the person that was driving. I mean, it was 7:00 a.m. It’s not like they were driving at night. You know, everyone’s out at 7:00 a.m., just driving to work.”

The video showed a pick-up truck travelling at a very high rate of speed south on McNay Street just after seven Monday morning. The vehicle slams into the driver-side door of another pick-up heading east on Oxford Street East. The impact flipped that truck onto its side as it came to rest leaning against a fence that surrounds the playground of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Elementary School.

Al-Kaissy is Operations Manager for Sport Motors Auto Sales - it’s a family business that sits at the northwest corner of Oxford and McNay. His voice wavered when he recounted what he saw, “There’s a school across the street. You know, my family, my personal family drives on this road. And it gets very emotional for me because, you know, my mom and my sister-in-law drives by here.”

Police said the woman in the pick-up along Oxford suffered serious injuries.

The 30-year-old male driver of the truck that was speeding south on McNay is facing a number of charges, including impaired driving causing bodily harm, dangerous driving causing bodily harm, racing a vehicle and running a red light.

“People are scared. I’m scared for the children. I’m scared for the seniors,” said Trevor Blackmore.

Blackmore drives a charter bus for a living. He spoke to CTV while sitting in a parking lot in Niagara Falls - he lived on Lyman Street, not far from the scene of the crash.

He moved from the neighbourhood about a year ago, and says high speeds and aggressive driving are common on many streets in area, “I’ve even stood on the middle of the street, to get people to slow down, and they honk at you and give you the finger.”

Like many older neighborhoods, all the streets in the area are laid out in a grid. Everything travels north-south or east-west, and they’re all connected to major commuter routes like Adelaide, Highbury and Oxford streets.

Residents told CTV that drivers frequently cut through to avoid traffic back-ups.

Newer subdivisions feature winding streets, crescents and cul-de-sacs to help reduce speeds.

Where that’s not possible, other traffic calming measures are put in place to lower speeds. That includes speedbumps, islands that narrow the lanes, and dividers to prevent cut-throughs.

None of those measures are in place in the neighbourhood north of Oxford, near Highbury.

Trevor Blackmore helped organize a petition calling more to be done to improve road safety, “I actually got a lot of signatures. Other people helped me get the signatures. I even spoke to Susan [Stevenson], the councillor, and said, you know, this is our problem on these streets because people think it’s a racetrack.”

Ward 4 Councillor Susan Stevenson admitted it’s time to get something done, “Part of it definitely is enforcement, and part of it is design. We expanded the police budget and again, residents are expecting to see enforcement out there. And in terms of design, what can we do to make these streets safer?”

A go-fund-me page has identified the injured driver as Shona Ivany, a self-employed mom. The page indicates she experienced life-changing injuries and has already undergone two surgeries.