Woman halts Ottawa rush hour traffic to save ducks

[spaminator]

Woman halts Ottawa rush hour traffic to save ducks
By Aedan Helmer, Ottawa Sun
First posted: Wednesday, May 20, 2015 03:45 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, May 21, 2015 09:39 AM EDT
Commuters had a close encounter with some feathered friends during Wednesday's morning rush hour, but one woman may have gotten a little too close for comfort.
A dashcam video captured by a Sun reader and posted to YouTube shows traffic grinding to a halt on the eastbound lanes of the highway around 9:15 a.m. as cars suddenly merge to avoid hitting a vehicle parked in the fast lane.
The video then shows a woman on the other side of the median, with her back to the cars speeding past her, carrying a cardboard box.
According to witness Wayne Hobbs, who shot the video, the woman was rounding up ducklings who had wandered onto the busy stretch of highway.
"I started seeing traffic backing up, and so I was creeping along and all of a sudden all the cars and trucks start pulling over to the right lane," said Hobbs. "And then I saw a little tuft of feathers in the air and I figured something got hit, and then I noticed this woman over on the other side of the (median) barricade.
"I thought 'What the heck is she doing?' And I thought maybe it was a mentally unstable person out on the Queensway, and then just as I was passing her I heard all the little ducklings, and of course she just lifted the crate up and it was full of ducklings."
The video then shows an SUV parked in the fast lane, with its driver's side door wide open and four-way hazard lights flashing.
"It looked like she just slammed on the brakes, stopped in the fast lane and hopped over the barrier. I couldn't believe it," Hobbs said.
OPP confirmed they received several calls about the incident and sent an officer to investigate, but neither the woman, nor the ducks, were found.
Police viewed the video footage.
While no one was hurt, and police did not lay charges, the OPP warned drivers, "Do not stop in a live lane of traffic to assist animals."
Const. John Armit said drivers should call 9-1-1 if they feel the hazard is an emergency, and pull over in a safe location and remain in the vehicle until police arrive.
The incident is similar to one in Quebec where a father and daughter were killed when their motorcycle slammed into a car parked in the fast lane of a highway near Candiac.
The driver in that incident was charged and convicted of two counts each of dangerous driving causing death and criminal negligence causing death, and slapped with a 10-year driving ban.
Anyone with information about Wednesday's incident is asked to call the OPP Ottawa detachment at 613-270-9171.
Twitter: @OttSunHelmer
A woman stands against the concrete median chasing ducklings into a cardboard box as speeding traffic passes her along Hwy. 417 in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 20, 2015. The woman stopped her vehicle in the fast lane near the Carling / Kirkwood offramp shortly after 9 a.m., to run out and collect the brood. (OTTAWA SUN / YouTube Screengrab, video by Wayne Hobbs)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCAMIS3kDLc
Woman halts Ottawa rush hour traffic to save ducks | Ontario | News | Toronto Su

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

 

[Dixie Cup]

OMG you made my morning! That is too, too funny!!


Thanks!


Dixie

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

OMG you made my morning! That is too, too funny!!


Thanks!


Dixie

Think nothing of it, m'dear. Hope the day (and the whole weekend) are a lot of fun for you.

 

[Curious Cdn]

Fortunately, Ottawa's rush hour is about 15 minutes long.

 

[SLM]

I hope they identify her and I hope they charge her. That was ridiculously risky, and it's not just her own life she put at risk but the lives of everyone there. What an idiotic woman.

Fortunately, Ottawa's rush hour is about 15 minutes long.

Clearly you've never been to Ottawa.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

I hope they identify her and I hope they charge her. That was ridiculously risky, and it's not just her own life she put at risk but the lives of everyone there. What an idiotic woman.



Clearly you've never been to Ottawa.

I have, and while Curious may be exaggerating just a mite, the rush hour ain't bad, compared to, say, LA or New York or DC.

 

[SLM]

I have, and while Curious may be exaggerating just a mite, the rush hour ain't bad, compared to, say, LA or New York or DC.

I'm sure there are plenty of places that are worse. At any rate, it really doesn't make a difference what the average duration of rush hour traffic is when you're talking about someone stopped and wandering around the highway.

 

[Curious Cdn]

I hope they identify her and I hope they charge her. That was ridiculously risky, and it's not just her own life she put at risk but the lives of everyone there. What an idiotic woman.



Clearly you've never been to Ottawa.

I used to live there. You have no idea what it is like, here. Ottawa is pokety-town by comparison.

I have, and while Curious may be exaggerating just a mite, the rush hour ain't bad, compared to, say, LA or New York or DC.

.... or Toronto ... which is now the fourth largest conurbation in North America after Mexico City, L.A and New York.

 

[SLM]

I used to live there. You have no idea what it is like, here. Ottawa is pokety-town by comparison.

Yes, I do know what it is like there. I've made no statement that it's worse than anywhere else, but it sure as hell is not some minor 15 minute jaunt to work in the morning either. One can barely cross Orleans in 15 minutes with heavy morning traffic.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

I hope they identify her and I hope they charge her. That was ridiculously risky, and it's not just her own life she put at risk but the lives of everyone there. What an idiotic woman.

Looks like she could get five years with a little luck and a good prosecutor.

 

[SLM]

Looks like she could get five years with a little luck and a good prosecutor.

Good grief! She should have the word stupid tattooed on her forehead. Lol

I get that you can't fix stupid but given the national coverage of the other woman in Quebec who did something similar, where someone did die as a result, this goes beyond stupid into ignorant territory.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Good grief! She should have the word stupid tattooed on her forehead. Lol

Creative, but not currently provided for in the Criminal Code of Canada.

I get that you can't fix stupid but given the national coverage of the other woman in Quebec who did something similar, where someone did die as a result, this goes beyond stupid into ignorant territory.

The penalties rise when folks are hurt or killed.

Which leads to an interesting hypothetical: If she had done the exact same thing, in the exact same relatively thoughtless and unsafe manner, to save a child on the QEW, would she be criminally liable? I mean, the goal is arguably more important, but the actions are equally negligent and dangerous.

 

[SLM]

Which leads to an interesting hypothetical: If she had done the exact same thing, in the exact same relatively thoughtless and unsafe manner, to save a child on the QEW, would she be criminally liable? I mean, the goal is arguably more important, but the actions are equally negligent and dangerous.

I don't know about criminally, I kind of doubt it but ya never know. Still, even for a child, there would be safer methods. I for one would be flagging down and stopping as many cars as possible, not simply chasing some kid while commuters whiz by, lol. But maybe that's just me.

And it's the Queensway, highway 417(part of the TransCanada Hwy), not the QEW. QEW, Queen Elizabeth Way, is Hamilton.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

I don't know about criminally, I kind of doubt it but ya never know. Still, even for a child, there would be safer methods. I for one would be flagging down and stopping as many cars as possible, not simply chasing some kid while commuters whiz by, lol. But maybe that's just me.

And it's the Queensway, highway 417(part of the TransCanada Hwy), not the QEW. QEW, Queen Elizabeth Way, is Hamilton.

Thank you.

 

[Scooby]

Too many cars, going too fast, too worried about upsetting the rat race.