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The first substantial snowfall of the winter proved to be a test for drivers during Thursday morning’s commute. But in one area of the GTHA , the test was unfairly weighted.

400 series highways in the area bounded by the lake, the 401, the Ford plant, and Mississauga Road were left virtually unattended for at least part of the night. And by the morning, Ontario’s Transportation Minister was swerving around the excuses, and trying to put the brakes on commuter outrage.

Just two weeks ago, the Province rolled out new equipment, to join in our annual battle with snow. But Wednesday night, it was nowhere to be seen, on the 400 series highways around the GTHA.

There were numerous rollovers and accidents, as trucks and cars alike challenged the icy roads, and failed.

Tom Stogios is a tow truck Driver: “Chaos. Just sheer chaos. Accidents all over the place.”

Even after the rush hour, it was a messy trip. Stop and go, for the most part — with a side of accidents.

The worst stretch seemed to run eastbound, between the Ford plant, and Mississauga Road. Well into the day, there were sections of packed ice left scattered across the two inside lanes:

Stogios: “And being shaded by the barrier — obviously the sun’s not hitting it directly — and with a little bit of a wind chill factor involved — it just froze like an ice rink.”

It was so bad — Bethany Newman put her commute to Humber College on hold: “Oh! Very slippery! I was literally going five, and I tried to stop, and my car was already twisting and turning — so it was really bad!”

The big question is: Why was it so poorly maintained?

Del Duca: “It’s never a good thing for us to learn that individuals have been put potentially at risk because contractor partners may not have fulfilled their obligations.”

Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca is looking into the possibility that a private contractor responsible for the area may have, well, slipped up.

Del Duca: “If the report comes back to me that demonstrates that our contractor partners did not fulfill their obligations, there will be consequences.”

Del Duca didn’t say specifically what those consequences might be. Although he did mention fines. But for drivers who gained first hand experience on the icy commute it was a frightening wake-up call.