Warning: Video contains disturbing images. Viewer discretion is advised.
On Monday, June 24, a surveillance camera captured a terrifying accident on a ferry in Tadoussac, Quebec, where an RV can be seen jumping the ramp and landing approximately 30 feet away on the deck of the departed ferry. The driver of the RV, 40-year-old Eric Belec from Laval, Quebec, later died of his injuries, while a female passenger is in critical condition.
Witnesses are hailing Belec as a hero. He did everything he could to warn people around him by honking at pedestrians and avoiding other vehicles as his RV sped out of control – reportedly due to mechanical difficulties.
The ferry runs between the towns of Tadoussac and Baie-Sainte-Catherine. No one on-board the ferry was injured. Sources: globalnews.ca and CCTV.
That Rv just fell apart. Wow no safety built into it.
Wow! If the brakes did fail, then I’m sure glad the Super-C, Freightliner Class 7 HDT my RV is built on has AIR brakes. In an air brake system, total brake failure (rapid loss of air pressure) results in strong springs locking the brakes ON (which results in a VERY abrupt and short stop). Hydraulic brake systems usually have TWO brake circuits so that a loss of one circuit doesn’t mean a total failure. It will be interesting to hear what the investigation will find.
Yes and no, JK. You bypass the hydraulic failure, but still have ways to fail. Even with the failsafe springs, you still have pads to burn away and drums/discs/calipers to snap, no?
I had a FULL brake failure in a truck 20ish years ago… i believe the master cylindar failed or some other common point. In any case pedal went to floor with ZERO brakes. I set E-brake and still got nothing much. I rolled several miles downhill dragging transmission and honking before finally running out across a field. “For your safety” the tranny apparently wouldn’t allow aggressive downshifting, so took forever to wind down…
It’s sad that that is your only response. And your nickname is”iamsmarterthanthatguy”.
I don’t think so. I don’t believe you even own an RV. You may want to spend more of your energy and cruel comments on your SnapChat and Facebook page. Somebody lost a loved one and he died preventing other people form being injured or killed in the his last moments. THAT is “doing all you can” when everything underneath you has failed.
What would you do when all else has failed and you know you’re about to die, SmartGuy?
Join the discussion…May that motorhome driver rest in peace in HEAVEN.
I assure you, you are NOT “smarter than that guy”… neutral would be wrong except for a stuck accellerator. For brake failure, you *downshift* aggressively and keep the engine on to retain power steering.
Please!!!! A bit of compassion and kindness people!!!
This is a sad and tragic story that points out the need for additional large vehicle training for anyone who drives an RV, especially a large one. Commercial truck drivers are taught all kinds of ways to deal with potentially dangerous (and deadly) road situations. This training begins in the CDL handbook which covers everything from how to deal with a blown front tire, to taking turns slowly enough, to dealing with failed brakes, to placing reflective triangles if you’re stopped on the roadside. Plus it includes a daily checklist of important safety items such as a quick tire inspection, cleaning the windows and mirrors, etc….
In Maryland you can get the entire CDL study guide for free at your local MVA office. Now, you don’t need to actually take the CDL test to learn from the book. But I suggest you get a copy of this CDL handbook and study it. I’ve read it from cover to cover several times and keep it in my bathroom library for consideration while “relaxing”. While the old adage goes “Knowledge is Power” I’m going to amend that to say “Knowledge is Safety”.
Now, I’m not saying that reading the CDL handbook would have saved this unfortunate guy’s life, but it could save yours, so study up.
That CDL handbook is available on-line. A search for “maryland mva cdl handbook” will find the PDF in no-time!
Excellent advice, and thanks for the source. Knowledge isn’t as good as practice, but having NO idea what to do can be deadly.
Really, as tragic as it was for that guy, more training. NO i say. Enough about legislating for ever event that when you analyse it is extremely rare. Leave us alone and stop recommending more government regulations. The guy had a drivers license, maybe it was mechanical failure, or maybe the guy just wanted to scoot the ferry fee, either way, I don’t need more regulations in my life, thank you.
Billy BT if you read my response I was advocating for more training, not more regulation. I was suggesting that everyone get a FREE copy of the CDL training manual that truckers use and study it. And i noted that you don’t need to take the test or procure a Commercial Driver’s License at all. I think that knowledge is power and ignorance is bliss. When I was a young motorhead in the 70’s doing a little street racing, I was careful to test everything to the limits. And I practiced putting my cars into slides on wet and snowy parking lots, did emergency braking on wet surfaces, adding 1 mph to each lap around a turn so I could find out the best line, and studying everything I could about what to do during under-steer, over-streer and even loss of steer situations. The result was I would react automatically under all kinds of road emergencies because I practiced them. Even now, 40+ years after my self imposed training, I can put a vehicle in a controlled slide and pull it out to avoid a deer on the road, all without missing a word in conversation with my mother in law. She sat there wild-eyed as I threaded the needle and avoided a sure collision. Now, nobody made me take a test, and certainly no government entity forced me to study any of this. But I considered driving a vehicle to be a privilege, not a right. I think that RV owners, especially ones driving large vehicles, owe it to themselves and their families to study what they’re driving to improve road safety. That’s all.
Mike, point well made. I know that offering literature to the public, when not being tested is a noble gesture, but in reality will be to a large part sent to the recycling bin unfortunately. When I referred to more training, that inherently is driven by regulations that require training. If there are studies out there that show positive results, without another govt bureaucrat in my face, I’m all in, I just have never seen it.
I read a separate article that said his brakes failed at the top of the hill, now what good would turning the key off and putting the trans in neutral could possibly do. It also sounds like he had his hands full trying to warn pedestrians and avoid hitting other vehicles.
He probably never thought of the emergency brake. It saved me once. You don’t stop fast but it will slow you down and stop you in a situation like this.
Maybe he didn’t know that, or maybe in such a stressful situation he panicked and didn’t remember what to do. I doubt that he was an “idiot” — and how disrespectful and callous of you to call him that. Have you no compassion? —Diane at RVtravel.com
Diane, thank you for your response from RVTRAVEL. I had high hopes that this forum would not turn into a social media type forum( Facebook, etc) with immature, inconsiderate and uncaring responses/discussions. Today, it appears it’s pointing in that direction. Is it possible for RVTRAVEL to filter these types of responses?
RV owners, I would hope,are a more mature/respectable family.
Thank you.
There are no such immature responses on my Facebook RV Electricity group because I moderate it pretty aggressively, which does take a lot of my time in addition to checking it for technical accuracy. Any slamming or name calling on my group gets one warning from me to stop doing so or be dumped. After that first warning I dump them from the group without any apologies since they were warned. I basically run the group like I run my classes I teach at Shenandoah University. Respect others in my class or be kicked out. But that’s a much smaller, closed group compared to something like RVtravel. Chuck would have to hire a full-time moderator to get it done as there’s no automated process for this function.
Clarification to Mike’s final sentence. Yes, I keep tabs on the comments frequently throughout the day, every day. And there are strict filters in place to keep most offensive or inflammatory words/comments from being published, at least until they are moderated. We’ve banned some commenters for their abuse of this commenting forum. Or I will “bleep” out a portion of their comment if some of it still seems relevant. But some of the commenters who are being rude, or stupid, or whatever, I sometimes just leave in so they can be “judged” by their RVing peers who will put them in their place. That way they can’t say that I’m “picking on them” (it’s happened). 😯 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Bob Bolduc, are you a psychiatrist? How can you dare assume he had depression and wanted to end his life? That’s a ridiculous statement.
Chuck, 12 people gave this comment the plus up arrow….hmmmm.
read you moron
Oh is that what it looks like? Moron…
If you read the actual article, though short, it will inform you that the RV was having mechanical problems, however, he controlled it to the best of his abilities under the circumstances.
His luck just ran out. If the ferry had made another 40ft. Of headway, he would have made a water landing, and possibly survived. As they say, it’s not the fall that is deadly, it’s the sudden stop.
Did you seriously not read the article?!?!?! It says he had mechanical issues.
READ….