TORONTO - Icy, slippery roads made for a treacherous morning commute in parts of southern Ontario on Thursday, as collisions took the lives of two women.
Police in Durham Region say 45 collisions were recorded during a 90-minute period Thursday morning, after freezing rain swept through the Taunton Road corridor in the area east of Toronto.
A 55-year-old Pickering woman was killed in a two-vehicle crash west of Brock Road.
Police say the woman was driving eastbound on Taunton Road around 8 a.m. when she lost control and her vehicle spun into the westbound lane and was struck by another vehicle.
The driver of the westbound vehicle, a 44-year-old Ajax woman, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Also Thursday, York Region police say a 19-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene after a three-vehicle collision at about 7:25 a.m. on McCowan Road in Markham.
The other two drivers, a 59-year-old woman and a 47-year-old woman, both of Stouffville, were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
No names were released in either of the fatal collisions and police are continuing to investigate.
Durham police also said a 67-year-old woman walking home from her morning duties as a school crossing guard slipped and fell on the ice on Tom Edwards Drive in Whitby.
She suffered a head injury and was taken to Lakeridge Health Oshawa where she is being monitored for a possible concussion.
There were also reports of numerous cars in the ditch in the Kitchener and Guelph areas, and as far east as the Peterborough region.
A number of roads were closed because of the slippery conditions, as the temperature hovered around the freezing mark during light showers.
Roads re-opened later in the morning as the temperature rose. Highs are expected to be well above freezing for the next few days.
