“We’ve certainly had more than our share of fatalities because of runaway vehicles,” said Grimsby mayor Bob Bentley in a recent interview with Grimsby Lincoln News when asked about a particularly dangerous street in the Niagara town. Bentley points out that most of the vehicles that crash on this street are “not properly maintained or they’re overloaded or coming down at excessive speeds.”

Luckily, the most recent crash on Mountain Street, which was caused by brake failure, was not fatal. A cargo van lost control coming down Mountain and struck a delivery truck which then struck a Honda civic in the intersection before pummeling into an insurance office.

But that’s not all of it. Before the cargo van even barreled down the street, it lost control and was unable to stop for a construction crew where police said the driver narrowly missed hitting several workers.

“My brakes failed at the top of Mountain, where the construction crew is. If you feel the brakes, you’ll feel they’re loose,” said the driver, who asked that his name be withheld.

“My brakes failed, I had to hit something or go through the intersection. He (the driver of the truck) was stopped at the intersection here. I had to hit something. It was either go through the intersection and cause more damage, or hit something big enough to stop me, and big enough that it wouldn’t hurt them much.”

Apparently, he made the call to hit something or things big enough to stop the van. And he didn’t hurt anyone “much;” a few drivers involved in the accident were taken to a local hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

As for the insurance building the van crashed into? Damages so far are estimated at $30,000. The accident occurred several days after the building had complete some renovations including a new sign that was damaged.

“That was scary, I still have goose bumps,” a local woman told Grimsby Lincoln News.