Car Explosion Closes All Niagara-Area US/CAN Border Crossings Thanksgiving Eve

[webny99]

From what I've read, the concert was scheduled to take place in Toronto, which is about an hour-and-a-half drive from Niagara Falls on the QEW. Presumably, they left early enough to grab supper before the concert, as well as perhaps do some other stuff in Toronto earlier that afternoon, given sufficient time. I know that I would have left early myself, given that I love to do that whenever I go to another city for a concert, game, or some other sort of event.

I've driven that exact route myself to Toronto and it makes sense. I appreciate details like that -- which often seem to be missing.

I know there is a casino on the Ontario side (of Niagara Falls). I went there, but it was 20+ years ago. Is there a casino on the NY side now? An earlier post (which is in my quoted section above here) implied that. It would seem that if they were approaching the Rainbow bridge from the NY side that they were intending to go to Ontario.

It's also worth noting that 1.5 hours from the border to Toronto is a very optimistic estimate. There's no good alternate to the QEW, and it's perpetually congested between Burlington and Toronto, so that stretch can easily be 1.5 hours on its own. Plus Niagara to Burlington is also prone to congestion on weekends and peak travel periods.

Toronto is increasingly not that far off from NYC/LA in terms of congestion woes, and it's even worse in terms of the lack of freeways  serving its downtown.

[jeffandnicole]

Periodic rants about today's media.

So, I get an explosion at a country's checkpoint is cause for immediate concern, but once again the media was way off on what happened.  They quickly not only assumed, but claimed they had verification this was an act of terrorism.  Who know how they managed to get interviews from people saying the car was speeding across the bridge when the vehicle was never on the bridge.  The FBI realized within 6 hours that it wasn't their jurisdiction; yet some media were slow to update that this was not terrorism, as if they lost out on their big story of the weekend.

The public ain't any better.  Many were hoping this was an EV, just to carry on their agenda that EVs are dangerous.  When it turned out the explosion was caused by a gasoline powered vehicle, almost no one said "gas vehicles are dangerous".  No one even said "Bentleys are dangerous".  It's as if people are perfectly fine that vehicles with gasoline are expected to occasionally catch fire or explode on occasion, with unknown reasons why the car just powered forward at a fast rate of speed.  If an EV does the same, they're clearly an unsafe type of vehicle.

If this was a private company making outlandish claims, all hell would break loose.  When the media does it, oh well, we'll listen tomorrow to see what other news is occurring.

[tmoore952]

I honestly forget how long it took me to drive from Niagara to Toronto. The last time I did it was 1999, so my experience is way outdated. I don't remember it being all that far distancewise but as mentioned there is really only one good way to do it.

I'll be the first to admit that I haven't followed this story that closely, have had other things to deal with.
But as much as we want to blame the car one way or another, wasn't there a good bit of driver error here?

[Rothman]

Periodic rants about today's media.

So, I get an explosion at a country's checkpoint is cause for immediate concern, but once again the media was way off on what happened.  They quickly not only assumed, but claimed they had verification this was an act of terrorism.  Who know how they managed to get interviews from people saying the car was speeding across the bridge when the vehicle was never on the bridge.  The FBI realized within 6 hours that it wasn't their jurisdiction; yet some media were slow to update that this was not terrorism, as if they lost out on their big story of the weekend.

The public ain't any better.  Many were hoping this was an EV, just to carry on their agenda that EVs are dangerous.  When it turned out the explosion was caused by a gasoline powered vehicle, almost no one said "gas vehicles are dangerous".  No one even said "Bentleys are dangerous".  It's as if people are perfectly fine that vehicles with gasoline are expected to occasionally catch fire or explode on occasion, with unknown reasons why the car just powered forward at a fast rate of speed.  If an EV does the same, they're clearly an unsafe type of vehicle.

If this was a private company making outlandish claims, all hell would break loose.  When the media does it, oh well, we'll listen tomorrow to see what other news is occurring.

My perusal of news stories was different.  Seemed to go from "investigation is ongoing" to "just stupid driver" in decent time.  Never saw a source that said it was definitely terrorism.

[NWI_Irish96]

Periodic rants about today's media.

So, I get an explosion at a country's checkpoint is cause for immediate concern, but once again the media was way off on what happened.  They quickly not only assumed, but claimed they had verification this was an act of terrorism.  Who know how they managed to get interviews from people saying the car was speeding across the bridge when the vehicle was never on the bridge.  The FBI realized within 6 hours that it wasn't their jurisdiction; yet some media were slow to update that this was not terrorism, as if they lost out on their big story of the weekend.

The public ain't any better.  Many were hoping this was an EV, just to carry on their agenda that EVs are dangerous.  When it turned out the explosion was caused by a gasoline powered vehicle, almost no one said "gas vehicles are dangerous".  No one even said "Bentleys are dangerous".  It's as if people are perfectly fine that vehicles with gasoline are expected to occasionally catch fire or explode on occasion, with unknown reasons why the car just powered forward at a fast rate of speed.  If an EV does the same, they're clearly an unsafe type of vehicle.

If this was a private company making outlandish claims, all hell would break loose.  When the media does it, oh well, we'll listen tomorrow to see what other news is occurring.

My perusal of news stories was different.  Seemed to go from "investigation is ongoing" to "just stupid driver" in decent time.  Never saw a source that said it was definitely terrorism.

Three particular cable news channels immediately labeled it terrorism. You can probably guess which three.

[vdeane]

Toronto is increasingly not that far off from NYC/LA in terms of congestion woes, and it's even worse in terms of the lack of freeways  serving its downtown.

Even if the numbers are somehow better, I'd argue that it already is worse than NYC at least.  NYC, just avoid the Cross-Bronx and the BQE, and you're fine outside of peak hours.  Some spots of stop and go, sure, but not completely gridlocked everywhere, either, and it's generally possible to move around.  Toronto is just plain gridlocked in nearly all daylight hours across nearly all freeways, with no way around it unless you're willing to pay for ON 407.  Plus NYC is avoidable.  Toronto isn't.  It must suck to drive across Ontario.

[webny99]

Toronto is increasingly not that far off from NYC/LA in terms of congestion woes, and it's even worse in terms of the lack of freeways  serving its downtown.

Even if the numbers are somehow better, I'd argue that it already is worse than NYC at least.  NYC, just avoid the Cross-Bronx and the BQE, and you're fine outside of peak hours.  Some spots of stop and go, sure, but not completely gridlocked everywhere, either, and it's generally possible to move around.  Toronto is just plain gridlocked in nearly all daylight hours across nearly all freeways, with no way around it unless you're willing to pay for ON 407.  Plus NYC is avoidable.  Toronto isn't.  It must suck to drive across Ontario.

I actually agree with this, I just thought it might be controversial to state it so strongly. Toronto's freeways are somehow less avoidable than other major metros (perhaps in part due to the linear sprawl along the lakeshore), and when they get congested it greatly affects the parallel surface streets/service roads. Part of the problem is the lack of freeways into downtown: there's really only two (the Gardiner and Don Valley Parkway) as Allen Road ends too far north. This seemingly pushes more traffic out onto the 401, creating a circle of gridlock even despite the 401 being one of the widest freeways in the world.

And 407 is great if you absolutely need to save time and are prepared to pay, but it's not only cost prohibitive for daily use, it doesn't even help much to get to downtown Toronto. Although 407/403/401/427 can sometimes be faster than the QEW, you're still stuck with a 10-mile slog on the Gardiner.

[KCRoadFan]

I honestly forget how long it took me to drive from Niagara to Toronto. The last time I did it was 1999, so my experience is way outdated. I don't remember it being all that far distancewise but as mentioned there is really only one good way to do it.

I haven't driven it either - I just got the hour-and-a-half figure from Google Maps.

[jeffandnicole]

I honestly forget how long it took me to drive from Niagara to Toronto. The last time I did it was 1999, so my experience is way outdated. I don't remember it being all that far distancewise but as mentioned there is really only one good way to do it.

I haven't driven it either - I just got the hour-and-a-half figure from Google Maps.

I kinda remember it being about 2 hours from Niagara Falls, but that includes a light snow falling, and the actual destination point in Toronto, which is a reasonably large city.

[Jim]

My only recent ride through there was this March.  I left my hotel in downtown Toronto around 10:30 AM.  I was at the border at the L-Q Bridge at 12:10, across into NY 10 minutes later.  And that's with stops at a gas station and at a grocery store in Grimsby to pick up a few Canada-only items with the rest of my $CDN cash.  I remember being amazed at how little traffic there was.  This was a cold and windy Saturday morning.

[webny99]

My only recent ride through there was this March.  I left my hotel in downtown Toronto around 10:30 AM.  I was at the border at the L-Q Bridge at 12:10, across into NY 10 minutes later.  And that's with stops at a gas station and at a grocery store in Grimsby to pick up a few Canada-only items with the rest of my $CDN cash.  I remember being amazed at how little traffic there was.  This was a cold and windy Saturday morning.

Not bad at all. It can be done in 1 hr 15 mins with no traffic, but you certainly would have had a very different experience during summer travel season, when weekend congestion can start as early as 9:30-10AM.

[Quillz]

Periodic rants about today's media.

So, I get an explosion at a country's checkpoint is cause for immediate concern, but once again the media was way off on what happened.  They quickly not only assumed, but claimed they had verification this was an act of terrorism.  Who know how they managed to get interviews from people saying the car was speeding across the bridge when the vehicle was never on the bridge.  The FBI realized within 6 hours that it wasn't their jurisdiction; yet some media were slow to update that this was not terrorism, as if they lost out on their big story of the weekend.

The public ain't any better.  Many were hoping this was an EV, just to carry on their agenda that EVs are dangerous.  When it turned out the explosion was caused by a gasoline powered vehicle, almost no one said "gas vehicles are dangerous".  No one even said "Bentleys are dangerous".  It's as if people are perfectly fine that vehicles with gasoline are expected to occasionally catch fire or explode on occasion, with unknown reasons why the car just powered forward at a fast rate of speed.  If an EV does the same, they're clearly an unsafe type of vehicle.

If this was a private company making outlandish claims, all hell would break loose.  When the media does it, oh well, we'll listen tomorrow to see what other news is occurring.

This is why you never trust anything you hear or read until you can verify it multiple times. I also don't just automatically assume something is terrorism, because 99% of the time it's not, it's just stuff like this were it was a tragic accident.

That said, I agree with the other poster that I actually didn't see this labeled terrorism anywhere outside of the usual garbage dumps like Fox, MSNBC, etc. Everywhere else, they were pretty quick to point out it wasn't and this was just an isolated accident.