‘Your vehicle could be lifted up’: Cars keep launching over snowbanks on Ontario highways. Police say this is the problem.

Police on the Highway 8 flyover in Kitchener, Ont. following a fatal crash on Jan. 26, 2026. (CTV News)

At least four cars have flown over the barriers of highways in and around Toronto since last week, and while snow on the ground played a part in the crashes, police say driver error is more likely to blame.

“If it’s after a snowstorm, and the snow is still piled up on the shoulders, there’s always a potential that your vehicle could be lifted up onto that snowbank before it’s removed,” Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kerry Schmidt told CTV News Toronto.

Drivers in the Greater Toronto Area have been navigating the residual snow from last month’s record snowstorm. The Jan. 25 weather event left nearly 60 centimetres of snow in some areas, and large snowbanks have been left behind on the city’s busiest highways and streets.

On Tuesday, video surfaced of a vehicle flying off a Highway 427 overpass and crashing into incoming traffic on Highway 401. Two people were transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The OPP said at the time that snow and speed were both factors in the collision.

On Jan. 30, a vehicle lost control on the ramp from the QEW to Highway 420 in Niagara Falls and struck the snow on the shoulder. The vehicle launched over the guard rail and crashed into the trees, preventing it from rolling down the embankment onto the QEW below. No injuries were reported.

Before that, two drivers drove off the Highway 8 flyover in Kitchener, Ont., just hours apart on Jan. 26 — a day after the snow storm. One driver was killed.

‘We just need drivers to drive to the conditions’

Toronto drivers are no stranger to snowbanks, so why did all of these incidents occur within just over a week of each other?

“In all these collisions, all four of them point to driver error,” Schmidt said.

The snow is unlikely to melt anytime soon, as Toronto endures a cold snap unseen in more than a decade, which means that drivers will have to rely on city and provincial road crews to clean up the snow on the shoulders.

During that time, Schmidt urges motorists to use extra caution, especially on ramps and overpasses.

“Mother Nature is not cooperating. We still have very cold temperatures out here…if you end up going onto the shoulder or losing control for some reason…and if you’re on a ramp or a curve or anywhere where you’re being redirected in a different direction, you rely on that traction from your tires, and there’s only limit how much traction you have even with those tires. So we just need drivers to drive to the conditions," he said.