freestylzz

'Hero' dies in crash
3 charged in Hwy. 400 chaos





Tue, June 19, 2007

'Hero' dies in crash3 charged in Hwy. 400 chaos
By BRIAN GRAY, SUN MEDIA




A truck driver died after his rig swerved to avoid cars and landed in the ditch on Hwy. 400 yesterday north of Bradford. (Dave Thomas/Sun Media)

A "hero" truck driver was killed on Hwy. 400 yesterday north of Bradford after as many as three cars darting in and out of traffic forced him to swerve into the centre median, jackknife and veer across three lanes into a ditch.

In the second accident of its kind in three days on the same stretch of road, two men in their 20s from Toronto and Mississauga have been charged with street racing on top of dangerous driving causing death.

A third person from Toronto, who was not directly involved in the accident, was charged with dangerous driving, Sgt. Cam Woolley said.

LOST CONTROL

"Two and possibly three automobiles travelling at high speeds in close proximity to each other making lane changes" reportedly caused the driver of the tanker truck to lose control of his vehicle, Woolley said.



"The rig skidded into the left guide rail and then back across the highway and into the ditch."

The driver was pronounced dead on scene by the coroner.

Tina Lynn Hannahson said she had just let the truck driver into the centre lane when a Mustang swerved out of the right lane between her Dodge Caravan and the truck and then pulled out into the left lane to pass the truck.

"The Mustang cut the truck driver off and he went to the left and then he jackknifed and went into the ditch," Hannahson said.

"He's a hero," she said. "He sacrificed himself to save many others who could have killed as well."

Roughly 33 metres of the centre rail were torn from the moorings and debris littered all six lanes of the highway between Hwy. 89 and County Rd. 88.

"We're treating this as a homicide scene," Woolley said.

Both north and southbound lanes were closed for several hours, reopening late yesterday.

One man who said he was reading a book in the back seat of a green Pontiac Grand Am involved in the crash said he and his friends were on their way from north Etobicoke to Wasaga Beach for a day of relaxation.

"We have an exam (today) at Kipling Collegiate so we came out to chill," the 18-year-old said. "I really feel bad for him (the truck driver.)"

Police have not determined if the cars involved were racing but witnesses have told them they were moving at a high rate of speed.

HIGH RATE OF SPEED

Hannahson said she was cut off by a Mustang and then the Grand Am.

She noticed the drivers in both cars motioning to a third driver in a white car.

"They were waving their arms like they were saying, 'C'mon, c'mon, let's go.'" Hannahson, 37, said.

On Saturday, 11 people were sent to hospital, two of them with serious injuries, when two cars were allegedly racing in the southbound lanes of Hwy. 400 about 2 km south of yesterday's crash. Two men have been charged in that incident.

"In the summer this is what we see -- an increase in serious injury and fatality crashes and it's because of speed," Woolley said.

"It is deadly out here, by design this is one of the safest highways in North America as long as people operate safely at the speed limit."

The OPP investigates 22,000 crashes in the GTA every year but in the summer there is an increase in high-speed crashes, Woolley said.
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freestylzz

Another high-speed disaster on the 400




Man killed in crash as debate renews on dangerous driving on highways

Jun 19, 2007 04:30 AM
Phinjo Gombu
Staff Reporter

In a crash eerily similar to one just 48 hours before, two young male drivers speeding on Highway 400 are facing serious charges in an accident that caused the death of a tanker truck driver.

The 11:30 a.m. incident in the northbound lanes of the highway near Bradford closed the highway in both directions all day.

It took place just 2 kilometres north of where a high-speed Saturday-night crash in the southbound lanes, also involving two young drivers, left 11 injured and closed the highway in both directions for 14 hours.

The strikingly similar incidents raise fresh questions about what might be done to discourage risky behaviour by young drivers and reduce the harm done, perhaps with better road engineering and technological advances.

The two male drivers, both in their early 20s, are from Mississauga and Etobicoke. One drove a black Mustang, the other a green Pontiac Grand Am, and were taking friends to Wasaga Beach on a break from final exams yesterday.

They face at least five charges each, including criminal negligence causing death, dangerous driving causing injury and bodily harm and dangerous driving by racing.

The 21-year-old male driver of a third car, a green Honda, was charged with dangerous driving. Police determined the Etobicoke man was not directly or indirectly involved in the collision and his car was some distance behind the other two when the collision occurred.

Police were withholding the name of the deceased truck driver, who was in his late 50s, until the next of kin had been notified.

The driver of a Jeep station wagon also involved in the accident was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Several witnesses described the Mustang and Grand Am travelling at high speed and weaving in and out of lanes before the crash occurred, just south of Highway 89.

"One or more of the vehicles caused the truck driver to swerve, hitting the centre median and then careening across three lanes of traffic and into a ditch," an Ontario Provincial Police release said.

In Saturday night's crash, police laid charges of dangerous driving and criminal negligence against two drivers.

Technology could play a bigger role in discouraging the high speed involved in such events, according to road safety experts.

Sweden is already experimenting with speed limiters on car engines, said Kevin McClafferty, team manager at the University of Western Ontario Multidisciplinary Accident Research Team.

An advocate of photo radar, he also expects to see more data collected on the so-called black boxes that monitor car airbag systems.

"As that technology starts to be more widespread, maybe that will be a deterrent too. Then if (speeders) crash we're going to know how fast they were going," McClafferty said.

Newer highways, such as the 407 ETR,are designed with wide, open medians, rumble strips and wider paved shoulders. Rebuilding an older one like the 400, which dates to the 1950s, probably isn't feasible, he said. But the highway's engineering isn't the problem, said Brian Patterson, head of the Ontario Safety League and frequent 400 driver. He was skeptical of how much technology could do to reduce such incidents.

"Speed limiters will stop you speeding on the 400, but it won't stop you from driving like a bat out of hell in your own neighbourhood."

What's more, "photo radar lowers speed in its initial phases and it's an excellent safety tool for construction zones and high-risk areas, but you'd be hard-pressed to convince the public that it's not connected to a cash grab."

The drivers arrested yesterday were with friends from Toronto's Kipling Collegiate on their way to Wasaga Beach for the day, a passenger in one of the cars told the Star at the crash scene.

"We have exams (today) so we came out to chill," said Raj Chandpuri, 18, who was in the backseat of the Grand Am. A friend was one of those charged.

Chandpuri said he didn't know how the crash occurred because he was reading at the time.

Beside him was Tahir Khan, 19, who said he was trying to sleep; a third young male passenger said he'd been asleep also.

"We're feeling very bad," said Chandpuri. "We didn't realize this was going to happen ... It was an accident."

Two young women who were passengers in the Mustang said they didn't want to speak about what had happened.

Tina Hannahson, 37, of Mississauga, who was heading north in the centre lane of the highway yesterday, said the nightmare unfolded in front of her when at least three cars raced past her in the right lane.

Moments before, she had let the tanker – which police said was empty – merge in front of her from the left. "I got cut off by a Mustang," said Hannahson. "He went into the left lane and then he came around in front of the truck and cut the truck off."

On the opposite side of the highway, Jane Lennox, 40, was heading to Toronto with her 13-year-old daughter, Laura. She said she briefly stared death in the face when she saw the tanker come toward the guardrail and her vehicle.

The truck hit the guardrail and swerved back before ending up on its side in the ditch.

"I think he's a hero," Lennox said of the truck driver. "If he hadn't corrected himself, he would have hit us head-on and we would have been dead."



OPP Sgt. Cam Woolley agreed it was "probably driver action" that spared Lennox and others. Had the truck gone over into oncoming traffic, there would have been far worse carnage.



Police, he said, will treat the investigation as if it were a homicide.





news video: http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_12098.aspx

8T9 BANDIT

this is because these jacka** kids cant drive..i see it every day here on long island. a stupid 18y.o kid weaving in and out of lanes (with no turn signals) at 90mph.. for no reason? i guess they think they look cool. or that there "racing". or something. just to reiterate what i tell people all the time, driving fast and weaving in and out of traffic, is not racing! it dosent mean u have a fast car! it just means you are a total a**hole! a 1986 buick can weave in and out of traffic at 90mph.. i dosent mean sh*t.. thase kids **** me off , to the point i want to follow them home and ring their neck. they kill inicent people. and cause serious accidents and injuries. and dont relize there doing anything wrong. they also ruin it for the rest of us responsible drivers. i drive two fast cars. but im no sh**head behind the wheel. some of these people deserve to hit a tree or something that wont hurt others but themselves to learn a serious lesson.. not to **** of the younger crowd here, but if it were up to me, learners permits would be at 23yo and a drivers lisence would be at 24yo.. then watch how many less accidents there are.. the fatality rate would drop huge.. anyway just my 2cents.

stroker_SS

I am a young driver of 18 years of age, i have virtually no traffic violations as of my two years of driving yesterday. I personally feel that when i got my license at 16 i was too young to drive, i've made many stupid decissions that could have cost people their lifes(racing at over 100 mph on public roads for example) and been with other people making very stupid driving decissions especially for their young age.

What I am trying to say is that the government is too easy on young drivers that have gotten traffic violations, and this is possibly why kids drive like as ses.

I've lost one friend to poor driving decissions, and almost another. I would personally like to see that the federal and state governments get alot tougher on teenage drivers.

My heart goes out to those who lost there lives in that wreck, due to there own or somebody elses ignorance.

88trans_am_gta

its idiots like this that ruin a privelage for others. ive known my fair share of people that just pushed the envelope too much and either payed for it, or just narrowly avoided a wreck.

yet, some people still dont understand why i'd only race them on a track rather than a public road.

1320_Guy

iTrader: (3)

I also made bad decissions when i started driving, I dont completly blame it on my age at the time but also on not having any experiance driving. It took a few close calls for me to slow down and pay more attention.

I have been driving for 4 yrs, only have 2 accidents, neather of wich was my fault.

fire350tpi

I'm 16, had my license for a few months now

My view is the same as before i got it, its not the age its the maturity some kids could get there license at 14 because they could handle the responsibility of not being a total jackass and being unsafe and unfit to drive.

I see people, not young people of every kind, and age whipping in between lanes at 80+ no turn signals and people riding withing 2 feet of a motorcycle 80+. The only reason i think that teen drivers are caught in the majority of these accidents, is because of lack of experience.

If anything besides all the Countless things that would make any teenager start acting unsafe. I believe that a learners permit should be given at least another 6 months earlier, and that laws should be more stringent on making sure that not only have they had, ( i think in MA the limit is 12 hours of driving time) The "Said" Time of driving experience. That they should make that at least a weeks worth of driving, over the course of a year we'll say 168 hours, isn't that bad, And on top of that figure out a way to monitor it, not sure how.. some sort of system that would be more useful then the parent just signing the form.

Anyway i suppose thats enough of a rant on that...

freestylzz

David Virgoe died a hero. The truck driver from Innisfil is seen showing one of his grandchildren "the ropes" of his big rig. Unfortunately these grandchildren will grow up not knowing and having a grandfather.

freestylzz

Sat, June 23, 2007

Tears for hero truckerWife vows to fight street racing
By CHRIS DOUCETTE, SUN MEDIA




Debbie Virgoe, right, is comforted by her sister Barb at the funeral for her husband, Dave, in Innisfil yesterday. (Dave Thomas, Sun Media)

INNISFIL -- The wife of a truck driver who was killed this week in a horrific crash on Hwy. 400 north of the GTA vows to do all she can to put an end to street racing.

Debbie Virgoe's husband, Dave, was forced off the busy highway just south of Bradford Monday, and investigators allege the deadly accident was caused by motorists who were racing.

"I've been told by the OPP that the maximum sentence these guys can get is 14 years," Debbie said yesterday at her 48-year-old husband's funeral. "But they've given me a life sentence, so now I have to fight back.

"I won't let Dave's death be for nothing," added Debbie, who was married to Dave for 22 years.

Hundreds of people, many of them fellow truckers, packed the Innisfil Funeral Home on Yonge St. to say goodbye to the shy grandfather of five who was remembered as a "great guy."



FAVOURITE SONGS

It was standing room only and Virgoe's favourite songs by the Kinks, the trucker's "cruising music," filled the funeral.

"He was always thinking of others ahead of himself, and that's what he did that day," said Debbie

Dave, who worked for Wilburn Archer Trucking, was driving an empty tanker to Midland when police said at least two vehicles sped around his truck causing him to jackknife.

Investigators believe the truck would have crashed through the centre guardrail into southbound traffic, likely killing others, had Dave not managed to steer the rig back to the right and into the ditch.

Prabhjit Singh Multani, 20, and Nauman Nusrat, 19, both of Etobicoke, are charged with street racing and criminal negligence causing death.

Ravi Badhwar, 20, of Mississauga, is charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle.

A trust fund has been set up to help the trucker's wife. Donations can be made at any TD bank in either Debbie or Dave's name.

freestylzz

Bail hearing delayed, 2 stay in custody in street race case


Jun 23, 2007 04:30 AM
Phinjo Gombu
Staff Reporter

The two men accused in the death of a trucker on Highway 400 appeared in Barrie court yesterday and will remain in custody over the weekend.

Crown and defence attorneys agreed the bail hearing for Prabhjit Multani, 20, and Nauman Nusrat, 19, would take several days.

A date to begin will be set on Monday. A publication ban has been set on the proceedings.

Outside court, defence lawyer Angela McLeod said that while the charges are serious she hoped the subsequent court proceedings would not be framed in political terms.

"It's a hot topic. I hope that's not going to be the case that they are going to make an example of these boys," she said.

One of the reasons for the delay is the unusual decision to provide disclosure of evidence before and not after the bail hearing, she said.

The Crown has indicated they intend to contest the release of the two accused on bail on the grounds that their release would bring the administration of justice into disrepute, she said.

McLeod said she had spoken to her client Nusrat, whom she described as a 19-year-old overwhelmed by the charges against him.

Brian Patterson, president of the Ontario Safety League, was present and said outside court that he had been invited by the Crown Attorney's office to testify at the bail hearing.

"It is clear that the public is outraged by the gravity of the street race, extreme driving situations and not prepared to take it any more."

Both men are facing charges of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death, criminal negligence causing death by street racing, and criminal negligence causing bodily harm by street racing, after the Monday crash that killed tanker truck driver David Virgoe of Innisfil. A third man was charged with dangerous driving.

Several witnesses said a Mustang and a Grand Am were weaving in and out of traffic before the crash just south of Highway 89.

One or both of the cars caused Virgoe to swerve, and he hit the centre median and then careened across three lanes of traffic and into a ditch, an OPP release said.

freestylzz

Laughter, tears and anger as 'hero' trucker mourned


'Through his sacrifice they were able to live on, and that's David'
ERNIE BRACKIN on his brother-in-law David Virgoe's move to avoid an oncoming car Drivers, friends hope some good can come from death of trucker cut off by alleged racers

Jun 23, 2007 04:30 AM
Theresa Boyle
Staff Reporter

STROUD–Parked just outside the funeral home in this small village yesterday were three tanker trucks. Their drivers, joined by 30 other truckers who chartered a bus, came to pay tribute to friend David Virgoe who died in a crash caused by suspected road racers Monday.

This outwardly tough brotherhood of men were teary-eyed and reflective speaking about Virgoe.

"He would also be the first guy to help you," said Peter Everett, a fellow driver from Wilburn Archer Trucking.

Virgoe, 48, was hauling silica sand on Highway 400, near Bradford, when two racers allegedly cut him off. Witnesses praised him as a hero for avoiding other vehicles and hitting an embankment instead.

It was to those accounts that family members clung while trying to make sense of the tragedy.

During the funeral, brother-in-law Ernie Brackin told the 300 mourners how he watched TV news coverage of the accident.

"What I remember are two young ladies who were standing there and thanking the hero that they didn't know and the effort that he put in. Through his sacrifice they were able to live on, and that's David," he said.

Another brother-in-law, John Brackin, said: "Hopefully from this something will come out of it. It would be a benefit to everybody to know that this wouldn't happen again."

Family friend Betty Johnston is helping to organize a petition that calls for lifetime driving prohibition for convicted street racers and a charge of second-degree murder carrying a life sentence for a road racer who causes a death.

"David got life. They shouldn't have the right to walk," she said.

During the service, David's wife, Debbie, sat in the front row, sometimes laughing, sometimes crying.

Minister Douglas Crocker told of Virgoe's big collection of CDs, all labelled "Mine." He told of Virgoe once outfitting the family's dump truck with so many lights "you would have thought a Christmas tree was coming at you."

He called Virgoe a hard-working man about to move into a new house and looking forward to retirement. He loved his job but there was nothing better than sitting in the backyard, listening to Jack FM and playing with his grandchildren.

"He had a heart of gold and he was loved by everybody," Crocker said.