Highway 401 Yogurt Mess: Brampton Man faces careless driving charges

A Brampton man is charged of careless driving that created a big mess on Highway 401 as Yogurt spilled on the highway.

Fatigue is being ruled as a contributing factor after the truck driver slammed into an electronic sign post causing a major yogurt spill and closing much of westbound Highway 401 at Meadowvale Road in Toronto Friday morning.

Update:#Hwy401 WB at Meadowvale, cleanup nearly complete after a load of yogurt spilled onto the highway.
Est. 30 min for full reopening pic.twitter.com/8Rzj9T28Ir

— Sgt Kerry Schmidt (@OPP_HSD) June 22, 2018

The 25-year-old truck driver has been charged with careless driving, according to OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt. The charge was laid under the Highway Traffic Act and Schmidt said police would not be releasing the name of the driver.

He said fatigue is being looked at as a contributing factor in the collision.

“Two axles (of the truck) had to go across the rumble strips,” said Schmidt, noting there were no mechanical defects or indications of alcohol involved in the single-vehicle crash.

The westbound lanes of the highway are expected to re-open around noon.

Schmidt said , "It's been a big, slippery mess here for the last couple of hours.”

He said the refrigerated truck was fully loaded with yogurt.

"A lot of wasted product here, all going to the dump," he said, calling the crash "completely preventable."

Both collector and express lanes were impacted by the crash, which happened around 3:30 a.m.

The trailer was ripped open when it hit the support post of an electronic sign, and its load of yogurt spilled out.No injuries were reported.