Police investigators believe excessive speed is what led to a single-vehicle crash on Highway 40 that resulted in two deaths and one injury.

The incident happened around 1:15 a.m. Thursday on the westbound side of Highway 40 near the L'Acadie interchange. The driver of the white pick-up truck lost control of the vehicle before hitting a wall, with the car finally coming to a rest on a Highway 15 on-ramp.

"A vehicle going off the ramp, almost flying away, (speeding is) the main hypothesis we're looking at right now," Surete du Quebec Sgt. Benoit Richard told CTV Montreal's Cindy Sherwin.

"Of course, alcohol could be a cause also. We will learn that this week with the autopsies."

The ramp leading from Highway 40 to the northbound Highway 15 was closed for several hours as police investigators studied the scene.

The two victims were the driver, a 27-year-old man from Laval, and one of the passengers, an 18-year-old man from Roxton Falls. A second passenger, a 23-year-old man also from Roxton Falls, was badly injured and underwent surgery Thursday morning.

Experts weigh in

Pierro Hirsch, director of training program development at Virage Simulation, has spent years researching driver behavior and crash risk.

According to Hirsch, approaching an on-ramp safely at high speed depends on a variety of skills and instincts working together.

"As soon as you need to take a curve you're throwing yourself off balance and you have to be doing it at such a speed that you won't lose control -- so therefore you have to slow down before you take the curve. It's a basic lesson," said Hirsch.

Investigators are now left to examine the physical evidence and apply the basic laws of physics to try to determine how fast the pick-up was actually travelling.

Olivier Bellavigna-Ladoux, who specializes in accident reconstruction, said new technologies should be able to facilitate the process.

"What also helps now, on modern vehicles, you have the airbag sensing and diagnostic module that can give you some recording of some parameters of the vehicle at the time of collision," he said.

Police will also be able to examine surveillance tapes from transport ministry cameras overlooking the highway ramp.