OPP watching Caledonia blockade detour routes after reports of increased speeding and dangerous driving

The OPP say it is watching Caledonia detour routes after reports of increased speeding and dangerous driving along them.

At council-in-committee session on Oct. 27, Coun. Tony Dalimonte said he had spent time on the bridge in York and noted how difficult it was for transport trucks to make the tight turn left onto Highway 54 while other cars were trying to get ahead of the truck to turn right.

It's chaos on the bridge," he said.

Staff will be reaching out to industries at Nanticoke to suggest other routes.

Coun. Dan Lawrence mentioned a 911 call on 6th Line - a cardiac arrest - where it was 30 minutes before an ambulance from Caledonia was able to come, with one from Six Nations arriving 10 minutes later.

At a recent Police Services board meeting, Lawrence expressed frustration at what he called the collateral damage from the current blockade including the cutting off the south end of Caledonia and the infrastructure beating roads are taking with increased and heavy volume of traffic. He also mentioned public concerns of increased speeding and referred to last week's serious crash at Haldimand Road 9 and River Road.

I'm really fearful of a fatality out there," he said, and said he's been asking for increased police presence on roads east and west of Caledonia - and for it to be on the province's dime, not Haldimand's.

OPP's Haldimand detachment Insp. Phil Carter confirmed that there was an increase police monitoring as a result of the extra traffic.

I've (also) seen them at York, assisting transports and I've seen them at McClung, moderating traffic," he said.