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A multi-car crash on Highway 400 sent 11 people, including a four-year-old, to hospital on Saturday. As a result, the 400 was closed for up to 18 hours in both directions between highways 88 and 89. To the relief of many motorists all lanes are open again.

It was around 6:30pm when a Honda Civic traveling southbound at a high speed lost control and began to roll striking a Volkswagen Golf. Then a Cadillac and an SUV swerved to avoid the collision, but both hit a guardrail and ended-up crossing into the northbound lanes. The crash tore-up about 50 metres of the guardrail and crews worked all night to make repairs and clean-up the debris.

Police said the two drivers that caused the initial collision were speeding."Witnesses are telling us it was extremely high speed," said Cst. Dave Woodford of the Ontario Provincial Police. "One of the cars started rolling and then it became a chain reaction."

There's no word on whether street racing was involved. "Street racing usually involves people who know each other," Woodford explained. "I don't think there's any connection between the two vehicles. They might have been travelling under a road rage kind of thing."

A piece of the guardrail went right though the Cadillac, leaving the driver in serious condition.

"The first thing I thought I thought for sure there was a fatality," said Woodford. "The guard rail goes right through the car. I've never seen it go right through,"

A backseat passenger in one of the speeding cars was also badly hurt. Everyone else, including the child, is expected to recover. Authorities said everyone was wearing their seatbelt and credit that for the fact that no one was killed.

Police have laid charges of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and dangerous driving causing bodily harm against a 22-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man. Needless to say, the accident caused major delays as drivers near the affected spot had to be rerouted.

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