Wild day on Norfolk County roads leads to charges
Police in Norfolk County laid a slew of charges after a wild day on the county's roads.
The trouble on Saturday started just after 7 a.m., when a pickup truck turning off Robinson Street in Simcoe hit a cyclist heading in the opposite direction.
The 77-year-old cyclist was thrown from the bike but escaped with what police described as minor injuries. The 26-year-old truck driver was charged for making a dangerous left turn.
Two victims of a later crash weren't as lucky.
An ORNGE air ambulance flew to Turkey Point Road around 11:30 a.m. to pick up a motorcycle driver and passenger who were hit by a van that ran a stop sign at St. John's Road.
The van, with a 73-year-old Norfolk resident at the wheel, was headed west and hit the southbound motorcycle, sending its two occupants flying and leaving them seriously injured.
Const. Ed Sanchuk said some Good Samaritans stopped at the crash site and came to the aid of the victims until first responders arrived.
They made some difference to a serious situation here, so on behalf of the OPP, thank you very much from the bottom of our hearts. It goes a long way," Sanchuk said.
Police closed the road to investigate the crash, but that fact evidently escaped the notice of a 61-year-old from Norfolk who slammed their SUV into the police barricade at full speed just after 2 p.m.
Officers already busy with one accident scene went to another, charging the unobservant motorist with careless driving.
Fast food and driving a bad combo
Fast food generally isn't nutritious, but it almost proved fatal after a driver heading east on Highway 3 in Simcoe on Saturday afternoon started to choke on some food they'd just picked up from a local restaurant.
The driver soon passed out, at which point their vehicle became a projectile, crossing into the westbound lanes and narrowly missing oncoming traffic.
The careening car then hit a hydro pole, rolled over, and was finally stopped by a chain-link fence.
Remarkably, the driver crawled out of the car under their own power and walked away without injury.
To top off the eventful Saturday, just before midnight, two different drivers tried to evade a RIDE check set up in downtown Simcoe, prompting officers to flag them down.
Police charged a 44-year-old man from Brantford with having a blood alcohol level over the legal limit, while an 18-year-old from Woodstock will be without a car for three days because police determined the novice driver had alcohol in their system, prompting a mandatory suspension and a ticket.
After Saturday's excitement, Sunday was reportedly a quiet day on Norfolk's highways. Which was just as well, since officers had a fair bit of paperwork to do.
J.P. Antonacci's reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows him to report on stories about the regions of Haldimand and Norfolk.