‘How could this have possibly happened': Attention turns to Thames Centre intersection where five lives were lost
While Walkerton grieves the loss of the five victims in Friday's crash in Thames Centre, attention has also turned to the intersection where the crash took place.
Walkerton crash Thames Centre - May 2025
Flowers and stuffed toys seen at the site of the crash in Thames Centre, Ont. on May 26, 2025. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London)
Traffic was back to normal on Monday along Thorndale Road at Cobble Hills Road northeast of London. An indentation through a ditch and into a farmer's field and flowers attached to a barbed wire fence, were what's left after the tragic collision.
Commuter Mark Pinnegar, who travels through this intersection several times a week, is trying to make sense of it.
Walkerton crash Thames Centre - May 2025
Mark Pinnegar, who travels through the intersection multiple times a week, seen in Thames Centre, Ont. on May 26, 2025. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London)
'I know the intersection well, and I couldn't figure out why, at that time of the day on Friday with the weather that we had, how this could have possibly happened. I just, I don't know,' he mused aloud with exasperation.
Middlesex OPP said late Friday afternoon an SUV collided with a transport truck, before colliding with a second vehicle at the intersection. All five people in the SUV died.
Ron Steele owns the land on the southwest corner where the vehicle came to rest, about 200 feet west of the stop sign on Cobble Hills Road. He said he has seen crashes along this stretch of Thorndale Road, but not at this particular intersection.
'Well, the only thing out of the ordinary is that it has the hill over there, which is a little difficult seeing traffic coming this way,' he explained, referring to drivers coming from the south and checking to their east for any westbound traffic.
Walkerton crash Thames Centre - May 2025
A speed limit sign seen near the intersection of Cobble Hills Road and Thorndale Road in Thames Centre, Ont. on May 26, 2025. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London)
Cyclist Rob Moser said he has seen drivers on Cobble Hills Road miss the stop sign.
'Especially if you're coming from the south, you come over a few risers and then it's like 'okay, pick up some speed now.' You just have to look out to a farm field, and you miss the stop sign altogether,' he said.
Cobble Hills Road borders Middlesex and Oxford Counties. Thames Centre Council will consider a motion at its Monday meeting asking both counties to consider 'conducting a comprehensive traffic and roadway study of the intersection following the conclusion of the ongoing OPP investigation.'
In the meantime, Mark Pinnegar said he can't help but think of the families affected by the tragedy at this rural crossroads.
'It might not really be any of my business to be here at all, but I've been consumed by this since it happened. And it's just a sad, sad thing,' he lamented.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
a minute ago
- CTV News
Person airlifted to hospital after crash in Wellesley involving a pedestrian
A road closed sign could be seen after a Wellesley crash on August 1, 2025. (CTV News/Dave Pettitt) One person has been airlifted to hospital in Wellesley after a crash involving a pedestrian. Ontario Provincial Police said Perth Line 56 was closed from Road 116 to Road 107, around 6:30 p.m. Friday. No word on the severity of their injuries or if any charges would be laid. A road closed sign could be seen in the area around 8 p.m.
CBC
2 minutes ago
- CBC
Crown stays murder charge for Edmonton man convicted of 1987 killing
Social Sharing Alberta prosecutors have stayed a murder charge against a man who was imprisoned for more than three decades for the death of an Edmonton woman who disappeared in 1987. In a news release on Friday, Innocence Canada, a non-profit organization that advocates for wrongful convictions, said the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service (ACPS) has stayed the second-degree murder charge against Roy Sobotiak. In an email to CBC on Friday, ACPS confirmed "that the matter was stayed." Sobotiak, 61, spent more than 35 years behind bars after being convicted for the murder of 34-year-old mother Susan Kaminsky. Kaminsky vanished in February 1987 and her body was never found. Sobotiak, who was in his early 20s at the time, was the last known person to see Kaminsky alive. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with no eligibility of parole for 16½ years in 1991. Since his conviction, he continued to insist his innocence and has never been granted parole. In May 1994, the Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed Sobotiak's appeal against his conviction, and his application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was dismissed in 2004. In February 2021, Sobotiak applied to the federal minister of justice for a review of his conviction. Under the Criminal Code, a person who has been convicted of an offence and who has exhausted all rights of appeal may apply to the federal minister of justice for a review of their conviction. Sobotiak was granted a new trial in February by the former federal justice minister Arif Virani, who concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe a "miscarriage of justice" had occurred in the case. A briefing note by Sobotiak's legal team stated that the ministerial review hinged on three key issues: the undercover police operation, undisclosed investigative details, and additional forensic evidence linked to the case, some of which was discovered after his conviction. In response, Alberta Attorney General Mickey Amery applied for a judicial review to contest the decision. With his previous murder conviction quashed, Sobotiak was considered legally innocent and was granted bail in May. Sobotiak was released into a sober living house in Fort McMurray and was subject to conditions including a curfew and electronic monitoring for three months. The release from Innocence Canada stated that Sobotiak was scheduled to appear in court in Edmonton on Friday morning to set a date for his new trial. However, Alberta prosecutors entered a stay of proceedings, effectively ending the case against Sobotiak. "Mr. Sobotiak is a free man with no restrictions on him for the first time since the day of his arrest in 1989," said the Innocence Canada release. "Roy Sobotiak spent more time in prison than any other wrongfully convicted person in Canada has to date," said James Lockyer, a founding director of Innocence Canada and one of Sobotiak's lawyers, in an interview with CBC News.
CTV News
13 minutes ago
- CTV News
Two people charged with murder in 2024 death of infant in northern Ontario
An Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) patch is seen in Ottawa, on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby Provincial police say two people have been charged with murder in the death of an infant on Manitoulin Island last year. Police say they responded to a call at a Burpee Township residence on Oct. 1, 2024 about an infant without vital signs, who was later pronounced dead in hospital. Investigators say a 40-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman were arrested on Thursday and charged with second-degree murder in the case. They remain in custody and are scheduled to appear in court later this month. Police say the Manitoulin OPP Crime Unit continues to investigate. Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact the OPP. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 1, 2025.
