Five vehicles collide: 23 hospitalized due to non-functional traffic light

Twenty-two students from École Secondaire Jean XXIII in Dorval and a bus driver are in hospital with non-fatal injuries after two buses and three cars were involved in an accident at the intersection of Sources Boulevard and Belcourt Street in Dollard des Ormeaux at about 4:40 p.m. Tuesday, and it may all be due to newly installed non-functional traffic lights that were to start operating in about two weeks, witnesses said.

"The first car stopped at the light, I don't know why," said Kevin Brown , who was driving one of the vehicles involved in the accident. "Maybe she thought it was working," he said.

The white Yaris in question could indeed be viewed on the scene about an hour later.

Behind it was a gray Audi that eventually left, its driver and passenger uninjured.

"The second car bounced back," said Brown in reference to the Audi.

A first school bus was puzzled by the white car's sudden stop and could not stop from ramming into it, Brown said.

A second school bus then rammed into the first bus, and Brown, driving his car behind that second one, was unable to stop, ramming into it himself.

His car was still there, stuck to the back of the bus when The Chronicle arrived.

"The driver of the (second) school bus was the most injured person due to cuts to the face after the windshield in front of him broke," said police media relations officer Yannick Ouimet.

Bits of broken glass could be seen on the grounds near the second bus.

As Urgences-Santé officials lay some teenagers on stretchers about an hour after the accident occurred, many witnesses looked on from behind a police barrier.

Pierrefonds resident Frédéric Ménard arrived searching for his brother Mathieu after hearing about a bus accident on the intersection over radio. He stood back, somewhat re-assured, once he saw the teen on his two feet.

"(Mathieu) said to wait," Ménard told The Chronicle as he stood on the side, adding Urgences-Santé officials had to give him the go-ahead once they checked he was alright to go home.

Mathieu eventually received a pass to wear around his neck indicating he was safe and sound, and left the premises with his brother.

However, Roxboro resident Oliver Watche looked on as his sister sat in an ambulance and was driven away. "They're taking her to St. Justine," Wache explained after making hurried telephone calls from behind the police barrier. He said she was not gravely injured but had complained about headaches.

Police are still trying to investigate exactly what happened to cause the accident, and no other authorities present seemed to have a firm grasp either.

"Our first priority is to help out the children and anyone else who was hurt," said Denis St. Jean, a supervisor for Transco, the bus company which owns the two buses that were involved in the collision. St. Jean said each of the two buses involved in the collision are registered to carry 48 students from Ecole Jean XXIII. "That doesn't mean there were 48 on each one today though," he said.

A resident of the area said the intersection has been dangerous for years, pointing out the newly installed traffic lights which do not function yet are posing even more of a hazard.

"Look at that tiny sign. Who can see it?" Asked Megan Sofia, who lives around the corner, pointing to a small, yellow sign installed on a post that warns the lights will only begin to work as of June 9.

"They should turn them on or take them away," Sofia added of the lights.

In November 2008, Dollard des Ormeaux Mayor Ed Janiszewski told The Chronicle traffic lights would be installed on the intersection within six to seven weeks.

Back then, Janiszewski claimed the city had wanted to install lights there for six or seven years, but did not previously have the authority to do so due to control of arterial roads resting in the hands of Montreal's agglomeration council.

Dollard officials could not be reached for comment as of press time.