‘It looked like a meteor’: Concrete chunk crashes into windshield on Highway 40

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West Island couple really feel fortunate to be alive after mechanic says they had been saved by the thickness and high quality of their automobile’s glass.

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Linda Gyulai  •  Montreal Gazette

Revealed Apr 06, 2024  •  3 minute learn

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A West Island couple say they’re fortunate to be alive after a chunk of roadbed from Freeway 13 smashed into their automobile windshield whereas they had been approaching beneath on Freeway 40 on Thursday night.

“Simply as we approached the 13, there was a chunk of concrete that regarded like a meteor that got here flying at us at an angle,” stated Dan Cholewa, who was driving the automobile, a Volvo, along with his spouse, Hillary Cohen, to attend a gala downtown. They’d reached St-Laurent borough when the slab crashed down.

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“It simply actually exploded in our face and it hit our windshield,” Cholewa stated. “It ricocheted off our windshield after which hit the windshield once more. It gave the impression of a bomb went off.”

Cholewa says he saved driving. “My intestine simply stated ‘Maintain the automobile in line.’ And I didn’t need anybody else to get damage, so I didn’t need to swerve, I didn’t need to trigger an accident or for one thing to occur to anybody else.”

The Sûreté du Québec officer who took Cholewa’s report the subsequent day informed him police had been conscious of the state of affairs as a result of they’d obtained round a dozen 911 calls about flying concrete, Cholewa stated.

The officer stated items of roadbed on the 13 had been being launched off the freeway as a result of vans driving by means of a pothole at excessive pace had damaged it aside, Cholewa stated. Mercifully, the couple’s two younger youngsters weren’t within the automobile with them, he stated.

Cohen was doing her make-up within the vainness mirror on the passenger facet when the slab hit the windshield, Cholewa stated. The rearview mirror and an accident-detection digital camera system connected to the entrance had been knocked off and hit Cohen within the head, he stated.

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They stopped the automobile as soon as they arrived downtown, Cholewa stated. Shock took over, he stated. After shedding his father all of a sudden six months in the past, Cholewa stated Thursday’s accident “was just like the straw that broke the camel’s again. I parked the automobile and I simply began to cry.”

They attended the gala Cohen had been invited to, Cholewa stated, as a result of “I didn’t need to let her down.” However they didn’t keep lengthy and went to Montreal police station 20 on Ste-Catherine St. W. to report the incident, he stated.

Montreal police stated they couldn’t take a report because the incident occurred on the freeway. So on Friday, Cholewa filed a report with the SQ.

However with the shock now carrying off, Cholewa stated he’s pissed off with what he sees as a scarcity of accountability by the authorities, together with Transport Quebec, which is answerable for highways.

“The police sort of informed me: ‘Look, file a declare along with your insurance coverage and that’s it,’” Cholewa stated. “That’s why I’m pissed off. … We not solely should pay for the roads, however we additionally should pay for the damages that we maintain for his or her lack of accountability in sustaining the roads.”

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An SQ spokesperson was unable to verify the incident on Saturday. Nevertheless, Cholewa offered the report quantity to the Montreal Gazette.

“I might see it, spinning and choosing up pace,” Cholewa stated of the slab, which he stated the officer confirmed was concrete. Cholewa stated he figures the slab was at the very least eight inches in diameter. “All the windshield was destroyed. The rearview mirror was hanging off.”

The technician on the dealership who changed the windshield on Friday informed him if it had been one other make of automobile, it will have been deadly, Cholewa stated. They had been saved by the thickness and high quality of the glass, he stated.

Cholewa posted a photograph of his broken automobile and an outline of what occurred on a Fb web page devoted to West Island information, saying he needed to warn others.

“I would like folks to watch out on the market and to simply listen after they’re driving as a result of you may’t look down, you’ve bought to deal with the highway, you’ve bought to have a look at issues coming at you,” he stated.

lgyulai@postmedia.com

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