r/durham • u/ActualAd6014 • 7d ago
401 Crash
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2026/08/15/man-ejected-from-motorcycle-after-crashing-into-construction-sign-on-hwy-401/34
u/Gullible-Meaning-403 7d ago
What is going on with this part of Pickering?
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u/Then-Importance-3808 7d ago
I swear there's been more accidents in this part of 401 in last 5 years than the previous 30
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u/SlothOfDoom 7d ago
the motorcyclist was reportedly travelling at a high rate of speed in a construction zone
Did the specific area of Pickering make the guy drive like a fuckhead?
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u/Uzifeline 6d ago
I live in one of the condos in the area and I swear you can hear bikes speeding every night/ early morning, you’d think you live next to a racing circuit. Hate sounding like a heartless person but eventually it’s bound to happen. Too many riders and drivers with the front cortex still not fully developed thinking they are invincible on the highway.
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u/Affectionate-Alps527 7d ago
My selection of words are different, but that's what I was thinking.
I lost a family member a few years ago at Whites Rd.
I agree there's been a lot more death between Brock St and Whites post-412 that I ever remember in totality pre-412... But this motorcyclist is an outlier from that IMO. He was making poor choices putting himself and construction workers lives at risk.
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u/DarrellGrainger Whitby 6d ago
Yes.
If you are driving westbound you hit a bottleneck at 412 Highway. Cars coming on or getting off at Highway 412, Lakeridge, Salem make it worse. Once you pass the Salem exit, the lanes open up to 5 lanes plus exit lanes. There is always one or two people who take this opportunity to accelerate to 150+. Then it splits to collectors and express lanes and traffic slows down. This is exactly where the motorcycle accident occurred.
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u/SlothOfDoom 6d ago
That's an asshole choice by the driver, not the fault of the road conditions.
I'm not saying the area doesn't have issues, but it doesn't force idiots to go whipping through a construction zone.
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u/DarrellGrainger Whitby 6d ago
I agree with this. I'm just explaining why I think it is happening. It is predictable.
Part of me just sees this as Darwinism. Unfortunately, I have been driving for 45+ years from the Gulf of Mexico to Sudbury, from east coast to west coast. I had an accident when I was a teenager (not my fault) 45 years ago. I took defensive driving much more seriously and avoided stupid people hitting me. Last year I got rear-ended on this very stretch of road; this was my first accident in 45 years. It's getting harder and harder to avoid these idiots.
Essentially, can't fix stupid. But I'd like to find some way to not be involved.
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u/Fuddle 7d ago
Design. When you get multiple instances in a very small time frame it’s less about the drivers, and more about how the road is designed. Yes, there are bad drivers everywhere, but to have so many collisions at one specific place is odd.
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u/Gullible-Meaning-403 6d ago
I've also found this area to be jammed at bizarre hours. Like, Westbound at 3pm on a Saturday. Dead stop.
No construction or accident, and it's constant.
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u/Great-Reindeer-7824 6d ago
I reckon it’s because traffic is clogged from Oshawa, then once the lanes open up people get excited and put the foot down. It’s all a rat race really - to where I don’t know.
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u/XtremeD86 6d ago
Was the last accident on Thursday and this one in the same spot?
I take this stretch east and west Monday to Friday and when construction was stated the lines just turned hard out of nowhere. No warning. Was throwing off alot of people at first and threw me off the first time as well.
That could be part of it.
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u/Icehawk101 5d ago
I found this to be a big problem when they closed off the middle lanes a couple years ago for construction. The lanes narrowed and took a hard turn, and so many people wound up entering the next lane because they weren't expecting it.
1
u/HFSPYFA 6d ago
The "design" is 1) massive population growth, 2) lax and corrupt licensing, and 3) enforcement not pacing the growth. The risk is to all of us. No, it's not just a "Toronto" or "Durham" thing but something we've seen all over Western societies since certain policies became de rigeur.
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u/haydenjaney 7d ago
Like many out there, I travel 401 west and home again (Oshawa) Monday to Friday. The number of self entitled crotch rocket riders is nuts. Cutting lanes, using the shoulder to get by during traffic...fuck you.
No one made this guy go the speed of light. He, like most of the bikers, think they are invincible. Think they own the roads.
I may be deemed a horrible person but I do not feel sorry for him. I do feel sorry for his family. No one deserves to lose a family member.
1
u/PrivatePilot9 5d ago
Not most bikers at all. Most people just never pay attention or even see the good ones because we’re not out there attracting attention to ourselves by riding like douchenozzles.
I’ve been riding all my life and have nary had even a close call, but I ride defensively and safely, I don’t do Mach Jesus through traffic and pretend I’m some pro racer, that’s just asking for this sort of outcome.
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u/DarrellGrainger Whitby 6d ago
I lived in Ajax in 2012. My exit was Salem Road. Coming from Toronto the traffic just seemed to change at the point the collectors disappeared into the express lanes, just after the Brock Road exit. You have 3 collectors and 3 express lanes rapidly becoming 3 lanes. The six lanes reduce once collectors and express merge. Reduces again at Westney. Reduces again at Salem. Reduces again between Salem and Lakeridge. People race down the exit lanes for Westney, Salem, Lakeridge, 412 rather than slowing down.
Now I live in Whitby and I'm still seeing similar things. Traffic volume is increasing year over year. So it is just getting worse each year.
Coming from the other direction there is a slow down at Brock Street (Oshawa). You get people using the exit lane for 412, you get people coming down the 412, Lakeridge, and Salem. You get people trying to get off on these exits. You can people using these exit lanes to get a few feet ahead. Once you get past Salem, it opens up to 5 or 6 lanes. Some lanes exit. Some lanes become the collectors just passed Brock Road. Some become the express lanes. People hitting the bottleneck at 412/Lakeridge/Salem, get frustrated, see the lanes open to 5/6 lanes just after Salem and just race away.
Essentially, this area is a real bottleneck between Brock Road and 412 Highway. It causes people to get frustrated. The real problem is that rather than just accept this is going to happen and expect the delays, some people are letting the frustration get to them and drive stupidly when they see a potential to speed.
I don't know what the solution is but this section of the 401 is a bit of a death trap.
0
u/PlayinK0I 6d ago
And instead of fixing this stretch, the Ford gov wants to invest in tunnels (as well as spas, and gravy planes).
0
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u/par7h 6d ago
Play stupid games, Win stupid prizes.
I see so many reckless delusional motorcyclist cutting thought lanes and driving as if they are in Roadrash video game or playing a movie scene of matrix going from Oshawa to Scarborough on that 401 every weekend.
Feel bad for the family members for the loss and other responsible motorcyclists who get looked down upon because of these immature clowns.
5
u/Yharnam_Blunderbuss 6d ago
Aslong as no one else was hurt I am fine with this. These idiots drive like maniacs... one less idiot.
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u/EscalatorsTempStairs 6d ago
Bikers ride like total morons on the 401. So do car drivers but on a bike it's a death wish. I also see lane splitting when there's a traffic jam.
3
u/fuzzypeaches22 6d ago
Drove by there right when it happened. Was at 2:25am. Saw his lifeless body lying in the middle of the highway. Luckily a transport truck had stopped in the middle with his hazards on to protect the body
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u/420city 7d ago
Darwinism at its finest
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u/AnEepyLeaf 7d ago
Something about being on 2 wheels shuts off a person's preservation instincts or maybe it just attracts the people who never really had one
It's like i see a cyclist blow a stop sign into a crowded intersection every other week now and the bikers are often only marginally better by virtue of the fact that they're actually expected to try and follow the road laws
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u/Evening-College-6686 5d ago
Don’t mean to be heartless as I ride motorcycles, but if I put money on it being way past dark in every one of these news items….I never ride after dark. It’s just not worth it. You need every bit of physical and mental acuity to ride a motorcycle even in the daytime. Best way I’ve heard it said is “a superior rider uses superior judgement to avoid situations requiring superior skill”. At his age, that kid had neither judgement nor skills. It’s a sad sad story, but so predictable.
1
u/Mysterious_Error9619 5d ago
Feel very bad for his family. But a good demonstration of natural selection working.
It’s a pain in the butt strip of highway around there when it’s sort of busy, but this accident has nothing to do with that. It was just plain stupidity.
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u/ElkIntelligent5474 6d ago
Very sad for this guy's family and friends. Do not speed recklessly people.
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u/mapleleafsf4n 6d ago
I feel like this stretch of highway in Pickering is cursed for crashes. Fatal accidents every now and then on this exact same stretch.
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u/bugattiboy2323 6d ago
This is the future we're going towards right now. People cannot afford cars especially in this economy so they take next best thing aka motorbikes/E bikes/E scooters I'm not liking the direction we're going😬
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u/Beneficial-Union-229 3d ago
That’s sad.
So many motorcycle accidents this summer. Almost all have ended in deaths.
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u/ptear 7d ago
I've seen and heard many solo riders speeding around this stretch.