More than 1,700 collisions occurred on roadways with high-occupancy vehicle lanes during the Pan Am and Parapan Games – a 73 per cent increase from the annual average in previous years, the OPP and Toronto police say.
Between June 29 and Aug. 18, police investigated 1,720 collisions within the temporary HOV area, which included the Don Valley Parkway, Gardiner Expressway and Highway 401.
By comparison, the same area experienced an average of 993 collisions per year between 2011 and 2014. That means that the number of collisions during the Games was 73 per cent higher than the previous yearly average, the OPP said in a news release.
The HOV lanes were put in place to help athletes, officials and spectators get to and from Games events throughout the GTA.
OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said the spike in collisions cannot be attributed to HOV lanes alone. Some of the crashes may have occurred in the HOV lanes, but police tallied collisions on entire stretches of roads and highways where they were in effect, he told CTVNews.ca.
“It all comes down to drivers having to obey their rules,” he said, adding that as people became more accustomed to HOV lanes, the traffic flow and problems on the roads improved.
More than 2,100 tickets were handed out by officers patrolling Toronto-area highways for improper use of the HOV lanes during the Games.
