A coroner blames “inertia” of Quebec for two dead

Screenshot
The small car in which sat a mother and her daughter, 10-year-old has been heavily damaged following a fatal accident that occurred on 4 January last.

Amélie St-Yves

Wednesday, 20 December 2017 23:24

UPDATE
Wednesday, 20 December 2017 23:36

Look at this article

THREE-RIVERS | A coroner criticises the department of Transport of its “inertia” to explain the deaths of a mother and her child during a loss of control in a curve is dangerous.

Stéphanie Deschamps, 38, and her daughter Lexann Montpetit, age 10, had taken the road between the Lac-Saint-Jean and Montreal on 4 January this year, after having spent six unforgettable days to spend with their loved ones for the New Year.

Around 11: 30 a.m., the mom was travelling at about 75 km/h in an area of 90 when she lost control of her vehicle on a curve and crashed into a sport utility vehicle that was coming in the opposite direction, La Tuque, in the Mauricie region.

The two victims had no signs of life when the outputs of the vehicle, according to the coroner’s report Jean-Pierre Blais.

However, the latter is not tender to the department of Transport, which was slow to fix this curve.

“In 2012, I recommended to the ministère des Transports du Québec [MTQ] to bring about improvements on this stretch of road 155 due to a fatal accident having occurred. […] Nothing has been done up to the date of this second accident. This inertia is questionable “, he wrote in the report.

The configuration of the road is considered the main cause of loss of control, which led to the two deaths.

After the accident, the father of Stéphanie Deschamps, Daniel Deschamps, had made several public appearances to ensure that this section is being repaired.

Mr. Deschamps is concerned that other people die in this place if the work is slow.

“It must be corrected in 2018, not 2020. And she would have had to be well before. This curve-there is a problem and it’s been a long time that we know. A man is dead there in 2012, ” said Daniel Deschamps.

New Year

In September 2012, the coroner, Jean-Pierre Blais had recommended that the MTQ to fix the road.

“In a stated aim to fully ensure the role of protector of human life, I recommend to correct the slope and the curve at km 107 of route 155 in order to make them safe in both directions,” he wrote in his report on the death of the motorcyclist Réneld Voyer, occurred in the same place.

Work

The mayor of La Tuque, Pierre-David Tremblay, confirms that the coast and the curve will be corrected. Without a specific schedule, this could be completed by 2019 or 2020, according to the mayor.

A working document of the ministry of Transport, sustainable Mobility and the Electrification of transport, dated 11 December last year and is consulted by The Newspaper presents also the steps to take to correct the curve. Mr. Tremblay committed for the work to be executed quickly.

“It’s been two fatal crashes and are not expected to there are three. It is for this reason that I am less patient, ” he says.

The MTQ has not commented on the case.