If you leave your house, you’ve been there. Dodging encounters with impaired or careless or belligerent drivers like the one who killed the Gaudreau brothers.
The alleged driver of that vehicle, Sean M. Higgins, is now charged with two counts of vehicular homicide in the deaths of Columbus Blue Jackets star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew.
Higgins is also charged with driving while intoxicated, possession of an open container, improper passing and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. Witnesses say the Jeep Grand Cherokee he was driving was travelling at a high rate of speed before it attempted to pass on the right on a two-lane highway and struck the Gaudreau brothers on their bikes.
The tragedy has cast a shadow over the impending NHL season. It will be felt everywhere the game is played — including within the Canadiens organization, where Laval coach Pascal Vincent is Gaudreau’s former Columbus coach and newly acquired Patrik Laine his former teammate.
The perpetually smiling Johnny Hockey was a favourite everywhere he played and the Blue Jackets’ leading scorer during his two seasons in Columbus. He’s irreplaceable, as is his brother, who will never know the child he has on the way.
Both are gone because of a moment of irrational impatience and a drunk driver at the wheel. It’s called an accident, but the accident, as my father used to say, is that there aren’t more accidents.
We run into drivers like the person behind the wheel of that Jeep almost daily. The name might be Tom, or Steve, or Pierre, or Luc, or Diane, or Karen. In their hands, an automobile or a truck isn’t a mode of transportation. It’s a weapon.
If you drive, if you ride in cars, even if you take the bus, it’s unavoidable. If you’re walking, running, riding a skateboard or a scooter or (heaven forbid) cycling, you live in constant fear of the drivers who share the road and the lethal weapon they have in their hands.
It’s the guy in the supersized SUV bullying you off the road as he charges past. Or the driver of the big, black Ford F-150 that is always on your bumper, the motorcycle veering in and out of traffic at 180 kilometres an hour, the Audi driver texting as she blows through a stop sign.
Or it’s the guy who tries to pass an SUV on the right and kills a couple of fine young men out for an evening bike ride.
We’ll never stop it, not completely. Not when police ticket drivers who roll through a stop sign on an empty street at three kilometres an hour, rather than the guy tailgating at 140 in traffic.
We could be much tougher with those who turn our highways into killing zones. Consecutive 10-year sentences for vehicular homicide for the driver who killed the Gaudreau brothers would be a good start.
Heavyweight tilt:After being punted from one NFL team to another, star Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke is back with the B.C. Lions. That’s great news for the CFL, not so great for the Alouettes, who will entertain Rourke and the Lions Friday evening.
After a couple of games to shake off the rust, against the much improved Ottawa Redblacks, Rourke looked almost like the QB who tore up the league before trying his luck in the NFL. On Saturday he completed 21 of 30 passes for three touchdowns and just one interception, but the defence-driven 10-1 Alouettes present a tougher challenge.
The Scorpions sting: Rourke won’t be the only distinguished guest at Percival Molson Friday evening. Also present will be members of the 1974 Laval Scorpions, who will be honoured as the last team to win the Little Grey Cup.
The Scorpions competed in what was known as the Quebec Juvenile Football League, a stepping stone between midget and junior football. Our resident statistician Tim Mell was part of a team that went 8-0 in the regular season before defeating the Lachine Lakers in the Quebec playoffs and then blowing out the West Brant squad from Ontario 64-0 at the Autostade.
The Scorpions then stung the St. Vital Mustangs in Winnipeg, 33-19, to make it to the championship tilt in Vancouver. There they beat the Oak Bay Farmers 18-0 in a torrential downpour to win the Little Grey Cup.
Conditions were much the same at Vancouver’s Empire Stadium a week later, when the Alouettes completed the double by defeating the Edmonton Eskimos 20-7 to win the Big Grey Cup. That team was honoured when Edmonton was in town. Friday evening, it’s the turn of the Scorpions, whose feat (like their moniker) was immortal.
Heroes: Aurélie Rivard, Tess Routliffe, Nicholas Bennett, Keely Shaw, Mel Pemble, Shawn Lemon, Ellie Black, Caitlin Clark, Gabriel Diallo, the 1974 Laval Scorpions, Alexei Popyrin, Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge &&&& last but not least, Matthew and Johnny Gaudreau.
Zeros: Alexander Zverev, Bruce Pearl, Deion Sanders, Bev Priestman, John Herdman, Bianca Andreescu, those Canadian Bacon Olympic and Paralympic outfits from Lululemon, Bud Selig Jr., Claude Brochu, David Samson &&&& last but not least, Jeffrey Loria.
Now and forever.