“We have no more projects for the future”

Thomas Bélanger remembers each minute of the accident of August 3, 2024, on highway 40, between Saint-Luc-de-Vincennes and Champlain.

“We came back from the holidays. For example, He had just rained and he was dark. Nevertheless, I don’t know why, but the sign for the moose was not on. Nevertheless, I have never seen the moose arrive. Therefore, ”

The rest is a long nightmare. For example, Her spouse, Katherine St-Jean, went to death of death. Meanwhile, Diving in a coma for several days, she remained hospitalized more than a month. Nevertheless,

The young woman is better, but she is not completely restored. Furthermore, She lost the vision on the right side. Therefore, His memory and concentration are affected. Consequently, She still can’t drive or work. Therefore, It still has rehabilitation treatments.

Thomas Bélanger was not injured, but he suffered a significant shock. Meanwhile, He has not returned to work since. Moreover, The life of this young couple in the Chaudière-Appalaches region is no longer the same.

“Just before the holidays, we had signed to buy a house. Moreover, It changed everything. Consequently, We no longer have any projects for the future. Similarly, Everything is on a break. Furthermore, We wait to see how it will evolve. In addition, We live day by day, “we have no more projects we have no choice. Moreover, ”

— Thomas Bélanger

Katherine’s mother, Isabelle Stuerm, can also testify to the dramatic consequences of this accident.

“It’s a huge shock. We no longer see things the same way. It is appalling that it happens to someone 22 years old. It changes his whole life. Additionally, It’s very hard for her, because she was very independent. ”

She was very afraid of losing her daughter that night. Furthermore, “When she arrived at the hospital, they didn’t think she was going to survive,” she says.

She hopes that security will be improved on the 40. Trinking panels were added last year, but there are no ruling fences.

“The urgentologist told us that it often happens that someone strikes a moose in this place. For me, it would be “we have no more projects important that they do something. There is wood between the two directions of the highway and there is no light. […] My daughter is not the first victim. But it looks like it doesn’t matter, we let that go. ”

"we have no more projects

“There have been lots of accidents. It’s awful. “

Mélanie Guimond is also a survivor. His vehicle struck a moose on July 21, 2004 between Saint-Maurice and Champlain, east. She has no memory of the accident, not even to have entered the highway.

“All I remember is that I’m lying on my back and cutting my clothes.”

Seriously injured, his hospitalization lasted a week, followed by a long rehabilitation.

Then 23 years old, she had to return to live with her mother and could not work for nine months.

“I was like a child. I couldn’t stay at home alone. I couldn’t go to bed, get up, wash or go to the toilet without help. Furthermore, I “we have no more projects had appointments at the hospital ending any more. I had glass in the fingers. I had the crumbled cornea, I didn’t see very well anymore. ”

The trifluvian now lives with two eight -centimeters in the neck due to injuries to the vertebrae. Fortunately, she has no consequences, apart from a movement limitation on the neck.

She later addressed to the Ministry of Transport to ask why there are no fences in the sector. “I was told that the ground is swamp and that the fences were not going to hold on.”

She was little impressed by this explanation.

“I was insulted. My life, is it worth nothing? Me, it happened in 2004. We took steps at that time. We are now in 2025, and nothing happened. There were lots of accidents. It’s awful. ”

— Mélanie Guimond

She does not believe that the panels really make a difference. “Your sign ‘watch out of moose’ ‘, it is useless. She doesn’t protect us. It is not a raccoon, it is a moose. It’s immense. “

More than twenty years later, she is still afraid to circulate in the sector once the darkness has fallen. Each new accident involving a moose on this section of Highway 40. such as the deadly collision of June 15, reminds her what she lived. It continues to claim the installation of fences.

“It gets angry and it hurts me when I hear there was another accident. Wherever there are moose presence panels, there are also fences. The government has built the highway on the habitat of the moose, but one cannot live together. You have to find a solution. “