A one-year-old child is fighting for their life in hospital after a car crash on Highway 401 in Pickering on Thursday afternoon. It happened in the eastbound lanes near Brock Road around 2:20 p.m. Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said a woman was driving a vehicle with her child in the back seat when she lost control and crashed into a highway barrier. “Significant damage to all sides of the vehicle as it came to rest,” Schmidt said. He noted that when emergency crews arrived, the child was unresponsive. A spokesperson for Ornge said the child sustained critical injuries and had to be airlifted to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. In an update, police said the child is in stable condition. Schmidt said the child’s mother was also taken to the hospital with less serious injuries. “Obviously, the mother is very concerned about the child,” he said. Police closed the highway in both directions immediately following the crash. The westbound lanes first reopened. Meanwhile, the eastbound lanes were closed for several more hours before traffic was allowed again. The cause of the crash is unknown. “Don’t know exactly what happened. If it was mechanical, if it was a human factor, if there’s any other issues or any other indirectly involved vehicles, potentially, that’s what we’re trying to determine at this time,” Schmidt said.
