The three occupants of the vehicle it collided with were all hospitalized.
A driver in his 70s died overnight Sunday after his vehicle, which was headed in the wrong direction on Highway 30, struck another vehicle. Three people in that vehicle were injured and one, a woman in her 90s, was fighting for her life.
The collision took place at about 11:45 p.m. Sunday in Ste-Julie, about 25 kilometres east of Montreal. The deceased driver was alone in his vehicle.
“According to initial information, a vehicle heading the wrong way — westbound in an eastbound span — collided with another vehicle with three people on board,” said Sûreté du Québec (SQ) spokesperson Sgt. Élizabeth Marquis-Guy.
Highway 30 is a divided highway in Ste-Julie, with a large grassy median between the two directions.
The driver whose vehicle was in the wrong lane was transported to a hospital, where his death was subsequently declared.
The three occupants of the other vehicle were all hospitalized. One woman in her 90s remained in critical condition on Monday morning; the other two suffered serious injuries but their lives were not in danger.
The crash forced the closing of Highway 30 eastbound for much of the night as officers with the SQ and the Régie intermunicipale de police Richelieu-Saint-Laurent worked. An officer trained in collision investigation did an analysis of the scene.
The reason the driver of the first vehicle ended up heading in the wrong direction is a subject of the investigation, said the SQ, but it confirmed Monday that there is no criminal element in the file.