Driver Drowning at Port Bruce, Ontario

by | Dec 8, 2018 | News

  • This is the controlled beach at Port Bruce where large, closely-spaced, concrete blocks prevent any traffic from entering the water. It is a difficult location for someone wanting to drive into the water…

Why would a driver arrive at a traffic controlled beach in order to drive into the water and drown?

On December 4, 2018 a 66-year-old male driver reportedly drove through a private driveway and into Lake Erie in Port Bruce, Ontario. The official facts reported to the public is that the vehicle was found in the water at approximately 0800 hours by a local volunteer firefighter. The firefighter was also an employee of the local road works crew.

It was stated that the time when the vehicle entered the water was not known but that police did not believe there was any foul play involved. Several days have passed yet no further information has been provided about how this incident transpired.

It is peculiar that this drowning occurred where it did. It is a location where the road traffic along the beach is well guarded by a number of large, closely-spaced, concrete blocks. Any driver who was intent on committing suicide would find it difficult to find a location where they could enter the water.

Officially it was claimed that the vehicle entered the water through a residential driveway located right next to the end of the beach. The photos below provide an explanation of the site details.

This is the far end of the beach where the concrete blocks are replaced by a wooden fence belonging to the first property adjacent to the beach. The driveway of this property was the reported location where the vehicle entered the water.
Looking from the beach side of the concrete blocks the property at the upper right corner of this view is where the residential driveway was located where the vehicle entered the water. The tire tracks in the grass were caused by emergency personal who removed one of the concrete blocks to access the water located behind the camera.
This view shows the residence and driveway used by the vehicle driver to enter the water in the background.

It is peculiar that the deceased driver would have selected the residential driveway in order to enter the water. In one was wanting to commit suicide it could have been much easier to simply step out of the vehicle and jump in the water at any point along the beach. So why go this somewhat elaborate procedure of searching for a driveway in order to enter the water?

Looking into the driveway one could see some tire marks on the grass and it was explained that these marks were caused by the vehicle that entered the water.

This is a view looking through the residential driveway toward the water in the background. Some faint tire marks can be seen on the grass and they seem to travel into the water.
The location where the vehicle entered the water is in the background. It can be seen that this is a small channel next to the beach and there is a stone walk at the end of the driveway with a sudden drop into the water. The  top of the wall itself is a only a couple of feet above the water.

Views of the white SUV as it was removed from the water showed that it appeared to sustain substantial damage to its front end. The local fire chief explained that such damage would not be unusual. It is not clear how this damage could be caused from simply striking the water. The drop of the vehicle from the top of the wall at the water’s edge would be minor and the vehicle’s fall would be cushioned by striking that water.

Looking at the grass in the driveway there is no evidence of upheaval that would suggest that the vehicle was accelerated to a higher speed. The tire marks on the grass are indicative of rolling tires. If there was hard acceleration there should have been evidence of the grass being torn up by the spinning tires. The very short length of the residential driveway would also provide minimal opportunity for the vehicle to accelerate to a high speed.

In totality the evidence would suggest some peculiar happenings that are not readily explained by the official version of what took place. Suicide does not appear to be an obvious explanation. Yet no one has provided an explanation of why this tragedy occurred.