You are most likely to get into a crash on a roughly six-kilometre stretch of the QEW than any other section of local highway, according to Ontario Provincial Police.

This stretch of road, between Centennial Parkway North and the meeting point of the QEW, 403 and 407 highways, is the biggest collision "hot spot" for the Burlington OPP detachment, said acting Inspector Doug Fenske.

It amounts to nearly 16 per cent of the nearly 3,000 crashes they are called to each year.

Fenske said his team knows where crashes are more likely to happen and what causes them, yet they can't prevent them with enforcement alone. That's why public education is important.

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The second "hot spot" is Highway 6 North from its start at the 403 to roughly four kilometres south of Highway 401. Crashes in this area amount to only about 5.5 per cent of local crashes, but it's considered a hot spot because the collisions are often much more serious, he said.

Don't call a crash an accident, though. That's "a swear word in my line of work," Fenske said, adding that there is usually someone at fault.

Most local crashes (40 per cent) are rear-end collisions, typically from people following too closely and not paying attention. At 20 per cent, unsafe lane changes are the next leading cause.

But on Highway 6, the crashes happen in intersections and are more likely to be head-on or T-bone collisions that leave the drivers and passengers much more vulnerable.

The Burlington detachment patrols the QEW and 403 roughly from Winston Churchill Boulevard to Casablanca Road in Grimsby and the 403 through all of Hamilton, plus Highway 6 north to just south of the 401 and south to Caledonia and Highway 5 between highways 6 and 8.

The unit is staffed with 54 constables, five sergeants and a staff sergeant. Each shift is covered by a nine-constable platoon, with at least one being assigned to each of the five zones in their coverage area.