Recently a new program, “Heavy Rescue 401”, came on TV, a sequel to “Highway Through Hell” in Hope, B.C.  They show some of the worst accidents on Highways 401 and 402 in Ontario over the past few years.

It was the year 1984, in the month of February.  Donna & I were on our seventh move from New Brunswick to Ontario (in all we have moved thirteen times, plus mini moves when we were doing interim ministry).  We left London with our son Rob.  He was going to Belleville, Ontario, to do income tax work and we decided we would drive to Belleville with him and then take the bus from Belleville to Coldstream, New Brunswick.

We left early in the morning and as we approached Milton, Ontario, on the 401, there was a lot of snow in the fields creating a lot of fog on the highway.  Since it was a Monday morning, there were a lot of cars and trucks on the road.  Rob was driving in the outside lane.  I was in the front seat and Donna was sitting in the back.  Suddenly, as we came over a hill, we came upon an accident.  Rob was able to avoid hitting anyone, but two cars hit our back fender.  Thankfully, no trucks hit us.

The “Dukes of Hazzard” was nothing compared to this!  All you could hear were cars and trucks hitting each other.  The median was full.  We were at the front of what was one half mile, in all four lanes, on both sides of the road.  In front of us was a flatbed 18-wheeler, blocking two lanes, with car after car hitting it.  Across the median was a Shell Gas truck and a black Sedan, standing straight up in the air like a jackknife blade, and with wrecked cars in front and back.  Anyone who could drive their car away put broken headlights and bumpers in their cars and drove off.  As I looked around, especially across the road, I wondered how many might be dead in their cars.

There were a few people who got out of their cars and were talking.  Two of these people were able to drive their cars away, and I overheard one say, “I don’t know about you, but I have a funeral to go to”, and took off.  I thought, “you are lucky it is not your own.”  Another said, “Well, I have to go.  I am a teacher and I have a class to teach.”  I`m sure the poor kids were worried sick about their teacher.  When we got word on the extent of the accident, we heard that two truck drivers had been killed.

Donna and I climbed a fence and went to a farmhouse to use the washroom.  Later, a policeman drove us, after three hours, to a Milton truck stop, where we phoned Oakville to rent a car to drive back to London.  The next day, we drove the car back to Oakville and took the bus to New Brunswick, packed our furniture into a U‑Haul truck and moved to Ontario, thankful that none of us had been hurt and now our family was all together in Ontario.

Leslie Jobb