SLEEPING, STOPPING, SWERVING: Bad drivers put lives at risk on GTA highways

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There is no shortage of bad drivers putting lives in jeopardy on GTA highways – and their risky behavior is often caught on video these days.

Sleeping behind the wheel of a self-driving car, slowing to a stop in a live lane and suddenly swerving from the shoulder into the path of a transport truck are just a few of the dangerous maneuvers captured by dashcams and posted on social media recently.

One video posted Tuesday on Twitter shows a motorist in a blue Tesla apparently asleep while cruising in traffic along Hwy. 401 near Bayview Ave. in North York – frighteningly reminiscent of footage recorded of another Tesla driver catching some shuteye while travelling along the QEW in St. Catharines in September 2022.

Another video, also posted Tuesday on Twitter, shows a car suddenly putting on the brakes and slowing to about 50km/h in the centre lane of Hwy. 403 in Mississauga.

A truck driver with a dashcam that captured that incident changes lanes and attempts to go around the slow car only to have to brake hard as the car cuts the truck off and slows to a crawl in the fast lane.

In yet another incident – one that could easily ended in a fatality – a car that was nearly stopped on the shoulder of the Hwy. 403/QEW eastbound ramp to Fairview St., in Burlington, on Monday is seen suddenly pulling out and cutting across the two lanes of the off-ramp into the path of a transport truck in an apparent attempt to re-enter Hwy. 403.

The truck driver, who had almost no time to react, attempts to slow down but is unable to avoid T-boning the black Toyota Corolla on the driver’s side.

“Obviously, something like this is very serious… It does appear that the driver of this car turned right in front of the transport truck without giving them any fair warning,” OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said in a video posted on Twitter.

He said firefighters had to extricate the 52-year-old driver from the mangled car and she was taken to hospital, but her injuries were not considered serious.

“There were no environmental issues here,” Schmidt said, explaining visibility was good and the roads were dry.

“Driver error” appears to be the cause of the crash, he said.

Schmidt urged motorists to “pay attention” and “know what’s going on around you.”

“Let’s all share the road and be present, be a better driver,” he said. “Please be careful and drive safe.”

cdoucette@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @sundoucette