It is not without outrage that coroner Carol Gagné wrote her report on the death of Jessika Larouche-Gilbert, which occurred on November 24, 2021 on route 169 between Saint-Prime and Roberval.
” I repeat myself here and I hope to have an attentive ear that will hear me. “
The 27-year-old mother was killed after her car collided with a female driver approaching from behind and was blinded by the sun.
In his report released Thursday, the coroner ruled he died unintentionally.
In the same breath, however, he criticized the Quebec Ministry of Transport for not following up on recommendations it had already made following a similar fatal accident that occurred in the same area in 2011.
I noticed the accident of Ms. Larouche-Gilbert that the Quebec Department of Transport has done little on this part of Route 169 to prevent and reduce the risk of recurrence of accidents, such as the one that claimed the life of Madame Larouche-Gilbert written by Carol Gagne.
The ministry has already indicated its intention to put a traffic light in the summer of 2023 at the intersection of Route 169 and Route de Sainte-Hedwidge and reduce the speed limit from 90 to 80 km/h. on the coast of Cran. That didn’t seem enough in the coroner’s eyes.
” I am again making final recommendations to the Ministère des Transports du Québec that, I hope, will receive them in good faith and see that they are respected. “
If the speed reduction is part of the coroner’s new recommendations, the latter suggests instead of a complete redesign of the three-kilometer section of Route 169 between rue Garneau and chemin de la Pointe-Bleue leading to the Mashteuiatsh community, which is considered a in the ten most dangerous areas with a risk of accidents in Quebec.
Coroner Carol Gagné also recommends:
to lower the level of the Cran coast
to eliminate some curves at the top and bottom of the hill
to check the relevance of a three-way road down a hill
improve signage and display
to place a flashing traffic light at the foot of the Cran shore
to justify the funnels of route 169 one kilometer before the foot of the Cran coast
Source: Radio-Canada
