It was a mother still in shock who contacted us via the orange Alert us button. Véronique’s life could have changed the night of July 21 to 22. As they were driving back to their home in Chaudfontaine, his son Jordan and his daughter-in-law were hit on the Embourg coast by a tree coming straight from the side of the road. “It fell right on their hood“, explains the mother of the family. “Within 30 cm, it was on their heads and they were both killed. I consider myself incredibly lucky that my only son is still alive.“
“The tree came and ripped off my bonnet”
Jordan is still very marked when he tells us about the accident. However, it is already more than a week old when we contact him. “It took place on the way from the Ardennes to Chaudfontaine at 0h21 precisely“, explains the 30-year-old man. “It’s a road I take every day to get home. The place of the accident is also 400 meters from my home.“
That night, Jordan was quietly climbing when he saw the tree fall from an embankment. “I braked hard but the tree ripped off my bonnet, which crashed into the windshield“, he describes. “The tree ricocheted off the roof before ending its journey 10 meters below. Inevitably, the airbags came out and the car stopped, completely damaged.“
The first thing the young man thinks about is getting his wife out of the car. Miraculously, they are both unharmed. The emergency call in his BMW brand vehicle was immediately triggered and this is how Jordan was able to call for help. “Police, firefighters and paramedics, they arrived in record time“, he said. “JI would also like to thank all the speakers who were very kind to us.“
“Do we have to wait for a death to solve this problem?”
A big scare but ultimately no human damage. But if Jordan and his mother contacted us, it was above all to send a message about this Ardennes route which they consider to be very dangerous, with these wooded embankments on both sides. “If I hadn’t had a modern car, we would have died my wife and I“, sighs the young man. “Sn this same road, I have already seen a small rock hit my car. My friends even tell me when they come to see me that they drive in the middle of the road for fear of being hit.”
Financially, it is also a blow. “My new vehicle is destroyed and I’m not even going to recover my road tax. Who will pay for all this?“, he sighs.
Véronique goes in the direction of her son. “There have already been many accidents on this coast of Embourg“, she says. “What should we wait for this security problem to be resolved? A dead person? Well, we almost had two that night!“
What Jordan wants in particular is a pruning of the trees. “I’ve been there for years and I’ve never seen anyone working on the sides“, he regrets.
We take it seriously
We contacted Dominique Verlaine, the alderman of Mobility and Regional Development of Chaudfontaine. For him, there is not a higher frequency of accidents on this road. “But it can happen indeed, zero risk does not exist“, he acknowledges. “However, we don’t have huge statistics regarding accidents on the Ardennes route. It is not a black point at this level.“
Regarding the pruning of the many trees present on this road, the alderman affirms that when it comes to communal plots, this work is done regularly. But another problem arises. According to the elected official, the tree that caused Jordan’s accident came from a private embankment. It is therefore the responsibility of the owner to secure his land and he assumes that there will therefore be contact between the insurance of the two parties. “From time to time, we write to the owners so that they check the state of the trees and so that they take the necessary measures if there is danger.“, said the alderman. “We will do it again here. It’s a problem we take seriously.”
A psychological shock
Jordan and his wife are in any case still far enough from being able to turn the page. They experienced a real trauma that still disrupts their daily lives today. “Since that famous night, we have had a lot of trouble sleeping.“, he said. “I wake up as soon as I hear a tree creak and I replay the scene. And since I can see the accident site from my balcony, it’s even more complicated. It will take me time to recover.“