MONTREAL – The driver who killed three bicyclists on Highway 112 in Rougemont in 2010 had worked long hours over the previous two days and had had little sleep at the time of the crash, a coroner’s report says.
The 29-year-old man behind the wheel of the pickup truck was a supervisor for a company that installs security systems.
In the 36 hours before the collision, the motorist had worked about 23 hours and had slept for four hours, and some of his sleep was interrupted because one of his children was sick, according to coroner Dr. David Dandavino’s report, which was made public Tuesday.
The driver’s drowsiness was only one cause of the crash, Dandavino found.
The coroner said other factors included:
The use of cruise control, “which significantly reduces alertness.”
The poor condition of the highway, which compelled cyclists to move away from the side of the road.
The absence of a paved shoulder, which would have been safer for the cyclists.
The cyclists were travelling in two lines. That contravenes Quebec’s Highway Safety Code, which stipulates that groups of cyclists should be in single file.
The three cyclists – Lyne Duhamel, 39, Sandra De La Garza Aquila, 36, and Christine Deschamps, 44 – were in a group of six cyclists training for a triathlon when they left St. Bruno on the morning of May 14, 2010.
The six athletes were headed for Sherbrooke when the accident occurred about 9:55 a.m. on Highway 112 in Rougemont.
The driver of the truck was not charged.
In his report, the coroner presented a series of recommendations:
– Transport Quebec should consider bike traffic when deciding which roads should be repaired. “Roads with heavy traffic must have a paved shoulder for allow safe movement of bicycles,” the report states.
– Quebec’s automobile insurance board should, in its safety campaigns, remind cyclists that they must comply with road-safety rules and ride in single file; stress that cruise control could give drivers a false sense of security and decrease alertness; and remind road users of the dangers of driving while impaired by fatigue.
– Transport Canada should require car makers to equip vehicles with systems that detect driver drowsiness and the loss of vigilance.
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