Quebec man found guilty after manoeuvre to avoid ducks leads to death of motorcyclist

After two days of deliberations, a jury convicted a Quebec man on Thursday of dangerous driving causing death for his decision to stop and move into an oncoming lane to avoid ducks on the road.

In July 2019, Éric Rondeau was pulling a trailer behind his F-150 pickup truck on Route 345 in the Lanaudière region when he spotted the ducks. 

He hit the brakes and flipped on his hazards but, concerned about being hit from behind, he moved his pickup into the oncoming lane, he told the court in Joliette, Que., last week.

A 19-year-old motorcyclist, Félix-Antoine Gagné, came around the bend and collided with Rondeau's truck head-on. The young man died at the scene.

Rondeau, 47, had testified that he was nervous about parking his F-150 just before a curve in the road and was looking in his rear-view mirror when he drifted into the oncoming lane.

He said he wasn't even aware he was in the wrong lane, being so concentrated on his rear-view mirror.

He spoke of his pain after the collision and, as a father himself, expressed compassion for the victim's parents.

His lawyer, Richard Dubé, said Rondeau "obviously experiences this in a very, very difficult way. Imagine three years of living with the death of this young man. It's heavy."

Sentencing is slated for Feb. 17. Rondeau remains free pending his sentence.

This is not the first time ducks in the road have led to tragedy in Quebec. Back in 2014, a Quebec Superior Court judge sentenced Emma Czornobaj to 90 days in jail for causing two deaths after stopping on the highway to rescue ducklings.

Czornobaj, from the Montreal suburb of Châteauguay, was also prohibited from driving for 10 years and ordered to perform 240 hours of community service.