Spike strip stops wrong-way driver

A driver’s 38-kilometre wrongway dash down the Queen Elizabeth Way from Hamilton to St. Catharines ended on a spike strip Thursday morning.

“I would say between a bit of luck and a bit of experience and professionalism by the officers that responded, I think we averted a real tragedy out there,” OPP Niagara Staff Sgt. Jan Idzenga said.

Police say the vehicle led officers from Burlington St. to Seventh St., heading Niagara-bound on the wrong side of the highway. Idzenga said police finally laid the spike strip on the highway at Seventh St. to halt the driver.

No one was hurt and the vehicle did not hit anyone.

In most cases, Idzenga said, wrong-way drivers quickly realize they’re in the wrong lane and get off the highway in a hurry.

The incident unfolded rapidly, Idzenga said, starting around 1:42 a.m.

It made for a close call for Phil Clark. The Hamilton man said he believes he had a run-in with the wrong-way driver while heading for Toronto.

“Just before Burlington St., I can see these lights heading towards me,” he said.

He realized it was a wrong-way driver in his lane, and in a splitsecond he turned hard to the right. He swerved so hard, his car spun around three times.

“I was about five to 10 seconds from being hit head-on,” Clark said.

He said he was thinking: “Am I going to survive or not?”

Clark said he called police around 1:45 a.m.

Idzenga said the suspect was not impaired by drugs or alcohol.

“It’s being investigated as to why he would’ve done what he’s done,” he said. “For whatever reason it’s done, it’s something we can’t tolerate, that’s for sure.”

Danny Krill, 71, of Waterloo was charged with dangerous driving and flight from police.