Trucks too close in fatal 2016 crash
Gilbert Prince was headed to Abitibi last August to deliver heating fuel when he rear-ended a flatbed truck on the Metropolitan Expressway during rush hour.
Fuel leaked from the tanker and ignited, sending plumes of black smoke and flames into his cab. Even after another truck driver tried to rescue him, the 52-yearold remained trapped inside and died a horrific death.
Prince’s vehicle was one of four trucks involved in a series of accidents that ended with Prince’s truck exploding on the highway.
Prince was driving too close to the truck in front of him and didn’t have enough time to avoid the collision, Quebec’s workplace health and safety board said on Wednesday after investigating the accident that closed the westbound lanes for a day.
The chain of collisions took about eight seconds, the report says.
When Prince slammed on his brakes, he wouldn’t have known that several metres ahead of him, an aircraft refuelling truck owned by Bombardier Aerospace had stopped in the middle lane. The truck had come to a stop after the emergency brakes were activated because a metal door was ajar. The driver tried to move to the right lane, but couldn’t change lanes because there were too many cars beside him.
This wasn’t the first time that a driver of the Bombardier refuelling truck had come to a sudden halt on the Metropolitan after having problems with the emergency brakes.
On Jan. 26, 2016, and three times on Jan. 29, the truck came to a sudden stop after a safety switch activated the emergency brakes because the side door had opened slightly. On two occasions, the incidents happened on the Metropolitan. The other two incidents occurred on the highway’s service road.
When a driver, who worked for a subcontracting company, dropped the defective truck off at Bombardier’s warehouse on Jan. 29, he told a Bombardier employee about the three sudden stops and said the vehicle needed to be repaired.
“The driver said it was dangerous and that it needed to be addressed,” said Alain Lajoie, an investigator with the Commission des norms, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail.
The failure of Bombardier to adequately follow up on the unexpected stops in January 2016 was one of four factors that contributed to the accident on Aug. 9, the CNESST says.
The activation of the emergency brakes because a door was open was another factor, Lajoie said.
He also said that Prince was travelling too close to the flatbed truck to avoid the collision. The two vehicles were about 31 metres apart when Prince hit the brakes. Prince needed about 76 metres to come to a full stop.
The ensuing fire in the cab also contributed to his death, the report says.
The investigators wanted to talk to the Bombardier employee who was informed about the sudden stops by the driver, but Bombardier said they couldn’t locate the employee, Lajoie said.
The truck involved in the incidents in January wasn’t on the road again until the accident on Aug. 9, when the brake problem reoccurred.
The refuelling truck is used at Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport to transport fuel to airplanes. On the three days it was on the highway, its driver was travelling between the airport and an east end company that does maintenance and repairs.
Following the accident, the CNESST ordered the refuelling truck off the road because it wasn’t equipped with a warning light and an override switch that notifies the driver the emergency brakes are about to activate.
“The driver can use a bypass button to prevent the emergency brakes from activating, which will give him time to move to a safe position and address the problem,” Lajoie said.
The metal door kept opening slightly because one part of the lock had not been tightened sufficiently, and the vibrations from the road loosened the locking system, Lajoie said.
Bombardier has since taken the problematic truck out of service.
A second Bombardier truck was pulled off the road after the Aug. 9 accident, but was given the all clear after investigators discovered the truck’s cab is equipped with a warning light and override switch.
A spokesperson for Bombardier refused to comment on the specifics of the report and refused to say whether the truck was repaired after a driver reported the problems on Jan. 29, 2016.
Mark Masluch said the company wants to work with the CNESST “to provide clarification” on some of the events. “We found some of the information could be incomplete,” he said.
He said the company has taken steps to prevent similar accidents and said safety is a priority for the company. “Our thoughts and sympathies are with those who are impacted by this accident,” he said.
Masluch said he didn’t want to speak in detail about the report because the provincial police and the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) are still investigating the accident.
In Quebec City, the Parti Québécois called on the Liberal government to hold hearings on the transportation of dangerous materials.