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Woman reports scary interaction with driver on Hwy 17 outside Sudbury

OPP confirms the report but had no luck finding the vehicle in question
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(Supplied)

Imagine this: You’re driving down a dark highway, alone in your vehicle, when a pickup truck appears as if from nowhere, speeds up to your bumper and tails you so closely you can’t see their headlights. Then, several minutes later, suddenly brakes, pulls a U-turn and vanishes into the night.

That’s what one Sudbury woman reported happened to her on the evening of May 4. Concerned about speaking out given the nature of the incident, she asked for anonymity. In agreeing to keep her anonymous, Sudbury.com confirmed with police that the woman of the same name did file a report about the incident that matches the description she provided.

The woman said she was travelling westbound on Highway 17 just past Warren, east of Sudbury, on May 4. At around 9:30 p.m., she said a vehicle “appeared out of nowhere and was coming up excessively fast.”

“So fast, I assumed it was a Warren OPP officer,” she said. “Except, when the vehicle reached me where the passing lanes open up, he didn't roar around me, or flash any emergency lights, (the driver) just had on high beams.”

Instead of passing her, however, the woman said the driver pulled even closer to her back bumper. 

“So close, I couldn't see the front of the vehicle, just its bright lights flooding my SUV,” she said. 

Unsure what the driver was up to, she said she slowed down to 80 km/h, thinking perhaps he would pass.

“He stayed put … aggressively and intimidatingly close to my rear end.”

She slowed down more, she said, dropping her speed to 70 km/h in the 90 km/h zone, but the driver stayed behind her.

“It was like he was trying to intimidate me to stop, but I knew better,” she said.

The vehicle stayed right on her bumper until the passing lane ended, and then the driver “abruptly hit the brakes, did a U-turn, no signal, right in the middle of the highway and sped off back towards Warren.”

The woman said she drove to the brightly lit LCBO in Hagar to stop and call police.

“The OPP are looking out for our community members, but I wanted to alert the local women who may be traveling alone: do not stop for any vehicle that does not have proper emergency lights. Ever,” she said.

Sudbury OPP Const. Michelle Coulombe confirmed the woman did file a report about the incident. Officers did search for the vehicle, but given the only description the woman was able to provide was that it was a pickup truck, police didn’t get very far in their search.

Sudbury.com asked police if similar incidents had been reported, but Coulombe said they hadn’t, but the detachment was keeping an eye out for similar reports.