TORONTO -- Security camera footage captured the moment a garbage truck lost control before mounting a curb and striking several vehicles along an icy Etobicoke street Friday morning.
“Based on the damage here, it’s actually unbelievable that no one was hurt but it’s indicative of how dangerous roads can be when they are icy,” Duty Insp. Michael Williams said at the scene.
“This demonstrates how much damage can happen even with slow speeds.”
Officers responded to the area of Dixon and Roxaline streets at around 7 a.m.
When they arrived on scene, they found at least five damaged vehicles along the residential roadway, as well as the garbage truck further down.
“Our collision reconstructionist team is here trying to piece this together,” Williams said. “What it looks like so far, is that the dump truck was southbound on Dixon Road. There is a slight downhill grade here and the conditions were very icy.”
“What we’re looking into is maybe some brakes were applied and because of the icy conditions, the truck locked up and possibly started losing control.”
CTV News Toronto obtained video of the incident captured by a nearby resident’s surveillance camera. The video shows the garbage truck lose control while appearing to try to avoid another vehicle.
Speaking to the video, Williams said, “that’s what our collision reconstructionist team is looking into right now.”
“What actually took place, was there another vehicle involved that caused the collision, and we’ll also be working with the dump truck, the company that owns it, and looking into any downloads of the data they can get from the truck itself as well,” he said.
No serious injuries were reported in the incident. Toronto paramedics said one passenger of the truck was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
As well, police happened to be in the area on Friday morning for an unrelated call.
“This again is all about timing, we’re so lucky there was no one on the sidewalk, we’re lucky that the police officers and the ambulance were here earlier and weren’t also involved,” Williams added.
Along with investigators, hydro crews and salt trucks remain on scene into the afternoon.
“The hydro trucks here are still working on the hydro lines to make sure that everything is safe and we can get this cleaned up safely, but I do suspect they will be here for quite some time while this gets cleaned up. Anyone who was planning on travelling on Dixon Road, please avoid the area,” William said.
Messy weather causes other GTA collisions
The Etobcioke incident was not the only crash possibly caused by messy weather conditions in the GTA on Friday.
Ontario Provincial Police reported multiple collisions on GTA highways and warned drivers to slow down and adhere to the conditions.
Police said speed and weather conditions likely played a role in a collision on Highway 400 early Friday morning. The driver of a tractor-trailer was jackknifed on the highway south of Highway 89, officials said. No serious injuries were reported.
A winter weather travel advisory was issued for Toronto on Thursday night but the weather warning was lifted on Friday morning.
Environment Canada says the city will see a pretty steep drop in temperature Friday afternoon.
A high of -1 C is in Toronto’s forecast Friday, but the temperature is expected to dip to -6 C in the afternoon, feeling closer to -15 with the wind chill.
Frigid weather is here to stay this weekend.
The national weather agency says Toronto will see wind chill values of close to -15 on Saturday morning.
