Road rage rising amid ongoing construction at the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge

Aggravated drivers are at a boiling point around the Île-aux-Tourtes bridge, which connects Senneville and Vaudreuil-Dorion. 

“The other day I had a guy pretend to swerve into my car,” said Île Bizard resident Alex Roy. “A lot of guys will try fake ramming into the cars to ram them into the walls because they don’t want to let in the guys that didn’t want to wait patiently like everyone else cutting in front of them.” 

There have been recent reports of at least three incidents of road rage around the bridge, including one where a man was arrested on Aug. 25 after allegedly knocking a female truck driver unconscious after their trucks collided.

“It’s frustrating what’s going on here, it’s been going on for a long time too,” said Richard Chamois, Terrasse-Vaudreuil resident. “The patience of people is very low right now.”

In November 2023, the bridge’s traffic lanes were cut back to reduce loads on the structure after a crack was detected. Adding to the frustration of motorists, the bridge will be closed this weekend between 11:59 p.m. Sept. 6 until 5 a.m. Sept. 9.

“There’s unquestionably more road rage, I see it every day,” said traffic expert Rick Leckner. He thinks that the closure is necessary, but said that the “major problem is the lack of oversight and pre-planning by the city of Montreal and [the province of] Quebec.”

The government’s mitigation efforts include public transit discounts, tolls suspended on autoroute 30, additional train departures and the creation of over 300 temporary parking spaces at Vaudreuil Station. 

“Unless something is done in the short term, such as synchronizing traffic lights better and creating more intelligent ways of communicating with cities, with motorists, as most cities have done, then we’re destined to remain hostages in our cars,” he said.

Be ready for it

André Durocher, Director of Community Relations and Road Safety at CAA-Quebec, feels that traffic jams are a part of the reality nowadays. 

“If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen,” he said.

“People feel invincible within their vehicle, but it should not be the case,” said Durocher. “Always try to de-escalate and think about it.” 

According to Durocher, there is an increase in road usage. Many employers have started to ask employees to return to work coupled with a curve in the population growth in the past three or four years. 

A former police officer, Durocher recalled that they would close one bridge or link at a time when he was responsible for traffic division, but “now sometimes you have two or three of them that are affected, and it’s a domino effect.”

Saint-Lazare resident Lorraine Hounsell seemed discouraged.

“People are ignorant, you know, they don’t go with the flow,” said Hounsell. “They’re still beeping their horns and getting everybody else all flustered… It’s not pleasant.”