Canada Day long weekend kept local and provincial police busy

The Canada day long weekend wrapped with five young people in hospital after their car rolled over off Concession 12 in Hagersville. Police say a car driven by an 18-year old boy from Ancaster, lost control, hit a railway sign and rolled into a ditch. A boy and girl from Stoney Creek, both 18, a 21-year old man from Stoney Creek and a 22-year old man from Hamilton were passengers in the car.

There are reports the group had just left a quarry where they’d been swimming. The crash is under investigation and charges are pending. All five occupants of the rollover will be fine, that wasn’t the case in a separate crash in Haldimand County Friday morning. Kendall Waite, a 34-year old paramedic student from Kitchener was killed when his car veered into the path of an oncoming truck on highway 56 north of Concession 4 road in empire corners.

Haldimand County OPP says they handed out 47 speeding tickets, two impaired and one distracted and stunt driving tickets by the end of the long weekend. Hamilton police say they ticketed 303 speeders, four distracted drivers and arrested six people for drug or alcohol-impaired driving.

On the highways, a man was charged with impaired driving in connection with an overnight multi-vehicle crash on the 401. Police say a tractor-trailer lost control in the westbound express lanes near Dixie Road in Mississauga. The truck plowed into a concrete barrier, sending it into eastbound traffic, causing a ten-car pileup. A 12-year old passenger had to be freed from one of those vehicles and was taken to hospital.