A Chatham man has an idea to make Hwy. 401 safer and he thinks it could fly.
Darcy Cameron is the CEO of a new local pilots' group called "Sky Warriors" and he wants to eventually patrol the 401 from Windsor to St. Catharines and report crashes and traffic backups along with closures and detours from his plane to keep everyone informed and safe.
The 30-year-old says the goal is to be an "eye in the sky" during rush hours and crashes, 365 days a year and he hopes it gets off the ground.
"We're going to be beaming down media live from the aircraft so people on the ground can make a decision before they get on the highway or whether they want to get off at a certain exit or they want to get on it at all," says Cameron.
Cameron is currently providing traffic reports through his "Sky Warriors" Facebook page.
He also encourages others to share their traffic updates on his Facebook page.
Cameron says the idea was born about six weeks ago.
"There's such an open area here, you really do need aircraft in order to cover that large amount of area. After the accidents and tragedies that happened on the 401 lately, that's when I got the idea that pilots in the community can make an impact and help to make that road safer," Cameron says.
Cameron says the goal is to provide the most up to date traffic information for drivers.
"Ideally we can run this 365 days a year. The limitations are with the aircraft and the weather. So, I have to be able to pay for the aircraft to operate it and operate it safely and legally but within those confines, we can operate probably up to 500 hours a year," says Cameron.
