A chilling coat of freezing rain is being blamed for causing trouble across southern Ontario, including a series of highway collisions that led to the death of one woman.
A two-vehicle collision in East Gwillimbury claimed the life of one woman Friday morning after an SUV lost control and spun into the path of an oncoming truck.
The driver of the SUV was pronounced dead at the scene.
Scores of other accidents and collisions were reported across the Toronto area after a night of drizzle coated roads and highways with a sheet of ice reportedly three centimetres thick in some places.
Ontario Provincial Police said that at one point in the morning rush hour, an accident was being reported every two minutes.
The morning freeze also wreaked havoc on southern Ontario school systems, forcing bus cancellations in the Toronto area and exam delays in Ottawa.
School boards in Durham and Peel said some morning school bus routes were cancelled due to weather concerns.
The Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board buses in the Town of Caledon and the County of Dufferin are cancelled, while the Peel District School Board has also cancelled buses in the Town of Caledon.
School bus transportation was also cancelled north of Highway 7 in Durham Region for the Durham Catholic District School Board and the Durham District School Board.
Elsewhere, buses have been cancelled in Peterborough and Simcoe.
The cancellations came after Environment Canada issued weather warnings across most of southwestern, central and eastern Ontario, warning the area to expect broad bands of freezing rain through the morning.
The Ottawa-Carleton school board also cancelled school buses due to the freezing rain and some area schools have postponed exams that were scheduled for Friday.
Motorists across the southern part of the province are being warned to prepare for dangerous travelling conditions.
With files from CTV Toronto's Zuraidah Alman and John Musselman
