Northeast OPP charge motorists for driving on closed highways

This week's bad weather has police reminding residents that driving on closed highways could cost you in more ways than one.

Highway 655 between Texas Gulf Road and Highway 11 was one of several highways in the northeast region that Ontario Provincial Police closed on Thursday.

The OPP said high winds and accumulations of snow on the roads from this week’s winter weather storm, along with multiple collisions, left detachments in the area no choice but to shut them down.

“So these weather closures have no on/off switch or black or white way to make that call,” said Const. Kyler Brouwer of the James Bay OPP detachment.

“When officers start seeing that accumulation or that visibility going down, that’s when they will make the call to shut down the highway to prevent collisions and just basically keep people from getting stranded.”

The OPP said Highway 11 between Hearst and Cochrane reopened Thursday morning, but had to be closed again when officers were called to an incident near Driftwood.

A commercial motor vehicle jackknifed and another drove into the ditch to avoid a collision.

Brouwer said when a highway is closed, anyone officers catch driving on it will be fined $110 and will be issued three demerit points.

“As well, if you knowingly drive on a closed highway and something happens, then a lot of these insurance companies are not going to honour a claim because you’re driving on a closed highway,” he said.

A Timmins transport driver was charged Wednesday when police saw him travelling east on Highway 101 while it was closed.

“That was a transport truck that was unsafely passing a snowplow, so that truck driver got charged for the unsafe move,” said Brouwer.

“The snowplows are up there for a reason, whether the highway’s closed or whether it’s not closed -- respect the snowplow.”

He said the OPP charged seven motorists in the northeast region this week for driving on a closed highway, but it doesn’t have a final number to report at this time.

Rather than driving on closed roads, police urge motors to check Ontario511, which has up-to-date information on road closures.