Police say speed was “without a doubt” a factor in a crash that killed a 25-year-old driver on the Gardiner Expressway Monday.
According to police, a woman was driving eastbound on the Gardiner Expressway shortly before 3 a.m. when it appears she lost control of the vehicle and struck a dividing wall east of Parkside Drive. The vehicle – a 2003 BMW 325 – then crossed to the south side of the expressway where it struck a guardrail before colliding with a concrete barrier.
The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
“This without a doubt had speed as a factor in this collision,” Const. Clint Stibbe told reporters on Monday morning. “We are also going to be looking to determine if there was any alcohol involved.”
Stibbe said the vehicle was “virtually unrecognizable” and debris from the crash stretched to Lake Shore Boulevard, where the car’s truck was located.
“The amount of damage this vehicle sustained was tremendous,” he said.
The eastbound lanes of the highway were initially expected to remain closed between Parklawn Road and Jameson Avenue until at least 10 a.m. but all lanes reopened shortly after 8: 40 a.m. One right lane remains blocked near Parkside Drive as police complete an investigation.
“We are seeking any witnesses that were in the area in and around just before 3 a.m. this morning to contact us as soon as possible,” Stibbe said, adding that investigators are in the process of notifying next-of-kin to identify the victim.
Two collision reconstruction teams have been called in to investigate the crash.
Stibbe added that investigators required daylight to better assess the damage to the Gardiner.
“With the collision investigation, we do have to track any sort of damage to the roadway and in some cases, daylight is the only thing that actually exposes to the reconstruction investigators,” he said.
"We try and minimize impact to the traffic, but as you can expect, anytime you take three lanes of the expressway away from the commuting public, it becomes problematic for the all the other arteries. Lake Shore especially was backed up along with all the other east-west main arteries coming into the city."
