FREDERIC SERRE
The 1019 Report
Nearly two weeks after being savagely attacked during a road-rage incident on the Île aux Tourtes Bridge, trucker Stephanie Ross says she is still trying to put the pieces of the story together, adding that while she is “physically OK, emotionally, not so much.”
In an interview with The 1019 Report yesterday, Ross described the moments leading up to the Aug. 21 attack, which was videotaped by a motorist. The shocking video, obtained by The 1019 Report and other media, shows Ross being punched in the head and knocked unconscious by a male trucker, who has since been arrested and charged with assault. The incident happened in the westbound lanes at the bridge at about 3:30 p.m. during heavy traffic. The video also shows two Transport Quebec employees trying to reason with Ross’s attacker, as he hovers over her as she lay unconscious on the pavement.
The incident forced the closure of the bridge in both directions for several hours as paramedics and Sûreté du Québec officers did their best to reach the scene of the incident as quickly as possible. According to the SQ, the road rage incident was sparked by a fender bender involving both trucks.
Ross, however, says there was no fender bender, and that her truck was stopped behind the suspect’s rig in heavy traffic when the driver got out of his vehicle and walked over to her vehicle.
“I thought he was coming over to tell me I had a blown tire,” Ross said while recovering at her home in Morin Heights. “Instead, he started screaming at me and making a lot of anti-women insults.” That’s when Ross stepped out of her truck to talk to the man, before she was attacked.
Ross was rushed to hospital for observation and sent home, where she is still trying to come to grips with what happened. In all her years as a professional trucker, she has driven across North America and has always believed in a truckers’ code of honour, but that was shattered in one instant.
“For him to attack a woman? I am still in shock,” she said.
Ross also denounced the lack of response by other motorists, truckers and even the two Transport Quebec workers who had initially stepped in, but then went back to work instead of calling 911.
According to Ross, it was the woman who had videotaped the attack who got out of her car and tended to her, urging the Transport Quebec workers who were several feet away to call 911.
“She was the only one who helped,” Ross said.
Bridge road rage on rise
While the SQ continues its investigation, they are also looking into another case of road rage on the bridge that left a motorist with serious head injuries. This incident occurred Aug. 27 at 10 a.m., when two motorists stuck in traffic in the westbound lane of the bridge began yelling at each other. As traffic cleared, the pair drove to a nearby industrial park in Vaudreuil-Dorion and got out of their cars to settle their differences.
According to Camille Savoie of the SQ, one driver – a man in his 30s – was walking back to his car when he was run over by the other vehicle. Savoie said the driver of that vehicle fled the scene, leaving the victim lying on the ground with serious head injuries.
In the wake of the two road-rage incidents on the Île aux Tourtes, and with motorists’ patience wearing thin, Transport Quebec and the SQ responded last week by issuing a reminder to motorists to remain calm and obey traffic laws while using the bridge, which is undergoing major renovations. The public bulletin contained 44 tips, including one urging drivers to be courteous with one another. “We really need a code of honour among truckers,” Ross insisted, adding that the employer of the accused trucker charged with attacking her, GT Intermodal, hasn’t even bothered to reach out to her to apologize or to see how she is doing.