Maybe Don’t Stop Traffic On North America’s Busiest Highway To Have A Fight

The busiest highway in North America isn’t I-95, or one of Los Angeles’ concrete freeways, or even I-285. It’s Ontario Highway 401, an absolute juggernaut of a highway that runs from the Gordie Howe bridge over the Detroit river all the way to the border with Quebec. The section that passes through Toronto handles half a million vehicles a day, and although some parts feel bumper-to-bumper from sunrise to sunset, that still doesn’t mean it’s an appropriate place to stop traffic to have a fight.

Recently, one Reddit user captured an unbelievable scene play out in the eastbound express lanes just before the exit to Highway 400. It’s properly night in the video, and when the sun’s truly away, the 401 often moves fairly well. Westbound traffic seems to be flowing just fine, but in the eastbound express lanes, tensions appear to be running high between occupants of a ladder-hauling Honda Odyssey and occupants of a Range Rover Velar, both pulled over on the left shoulder.

Now, we don’t know what led up to this moment, and neither does the person behind the camera. As Reddit user DarkSide01_ wrote in their original post: “Not sure what started this, but the highway came to a full stop because of these clowns. Reported to OPP non-emergency, hopefully they do something.” Still, regardless of what started it, there really isn’t a good reason for people to be running around on a live highway trying to throw hands. In Ontario, pedestrians are actually prohibited from 400-Series highways on safety grounds, unless in the event of an emergency when crossing the highway is necessary. Apparent road rage is not an emergency.

See that? That’s a car whizzing past as two individuals have a brawl, again, on a live controlled access highway. It’s lucky that traffic in the left few lanes actually stopped because the human body generally doesn’t walk off being hit by a vehicle travelling at 62 mph. Also, how mad do you have to be to get out of your car and take it into traffic? Can’t this be resolved by pulling off at the next exit?  The scuffle quickly expands from lanes of traffic that are definitely stopped to a lane of traffic which, as of a few moments ago, definitely weren’t stopped. Things get seriously dangerous for a few seconds, and then people seemingly start to back off.

At this point, the occupants of the Odyssey load back up into the minivan and take off, which would be a prudent time to disengage, right? Well, that’s not what happened on camera. Instead, as the Honda goes around and past the Velar, the driver of the Range Rover decides to catch up to the Odyssey and execute a GSP-style PIT maneuver. Considering a single headlight for a pre-facelift Velar costs $3,573.23 Canadian on its own, and this sort of retaliation can sometimes bring about legal consequences, just letting it be and leaving things alone would’ve been the cheaper option.

401 fight + PIT MANEUVER HIT AND RUN?
byu/DarkSide01_ inTorontoDriving

This whole sequence leaves us with more questions than answers. What’s going on here? Fragile masculinity? The world’s worst carjacking attempt? Why ram a car that’s leaving the situation? Did anyone call 911? I guess there’s also the possibility of the camera operator being fined as using a handheld device while behind the wheel in Ontario is subject to a three-day licence suspension and a minimum fine of $615 Canadian if convicted, but I have a feeling that footage of licence plates is probably more useful than harmful, given the low-to-stationary speeds of the camera car. Needless to say, we’ve reached out for more details and will update you should further information arise. In any case, if you come across something like this on the roads, don’t engage, just report it before someone becomes a pancake.

Top graphic image: Reddit/DarkSide01_

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