An Oshawa tow-truck driver was killed early Thursday morning after he was struck by a vehicle skidding out of control while helping another motorist out of a ditch.

The 56-year-old victim was assisting a driver who lost control of their vehicle and slid into the east ditch of Hwy. 12, just north of Scugog Line 2, when a second northbound vehicle began sliding on the snowy roadway and collided with the tow-truck operator, say Ontario Provincial Police.

The Oshawa man was pronounced dead at the scene.

“While he was parked here on the side of the road, winching (the first vehicle) out, another vehicle . . . lost control as well around 8 o’clock this morning, striking the tow-truck operator and killing him here on scene,” OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt in an update posted on Periscope.

In the video, Schmidt points to a red car in the ditch as the initial vehicle that slid out of control, followed by a silver car that struck the Oshawa man. He also noted that a white BMW, across the road in the west ditch, also slid out of control around the same time as the red vehicle.

The accident occurred on a stretch of Hwy. 12 where there is a sweeping corner, followed by a change in elevation.

Hwy. 12 was “snow-covered, slushy and icy” at the time of the accident, Schmidt said.

“While (the tow truck operator was) out winching those vehicles out of the ditch, that third vehicle came in and struck the tow operator,” Schmidt said.

He stressed that motorists are required by law to slow down as they approach first-responder vehicles as well as tow trucks. Drivers can change lanes if available and must be prepared to stop, if necessary, Schmidt said.

Snowy driving conditions created havoc on Durham roads Thursday morning with numerous crashes.

Durham police said that in a two-hour span Thursday morning, there were 15 collisions on roads they patrol.

In Scugog, where the fatal tow truck accident occurred, Fire Chief Mark Berney said that firefighters were responding “non-stop” to collisions between 7 and 8 a.m. on Thursday morning.

“It’s the first snowfall of the year and we haven’t driven in these conditions for months, so exercise extreme caution and drive defensively and focus on what other drivers are doing,” Berney said. “Some people aren’t appreciating the effects of the snow — the conditions out there — and perhaps they’re not ready, like they don’t have snow tires on. The roads are definitely in a hazardous condition right now with the fresh snow fall.”

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