When you are expecting a child, you imagine the life he will have. We think about his first steps, when he started school and all the things we want to do with him. We imagine all this while avoiding thinking that what we have most precious can be taken away from us. Only one stupid accident is enough.
An accident. This is what happened to Sarah, 12, this week in Longueuil. Sarah was hit by a bus as she tried to catch hers, fatally stepping over an urban freeway.
It is a terrible tragedy, and our hearts beat in unison with those of the teenager’s parents. Our thoughts are with them. Our anger too.
It could have been avoided
I speak of anger because, as is often the case, people who know the places where the accident happened well are not surprised. It’s a dangerous artery. This is also what the citizens of Saguenay are saying this winter, when a woman was fatally hit by a snowplow in an area that everyone fears.
- “We have to review our road system from top to bottom,” said Sandrine Cabana-Degani interviewed by QUB radio:
I will tell you a story. For years, near Montmorency Falls in Quebec City, pedestrians only had yellow stripes to cross a boulevard and take the bus. In order not to miss their transfer, people in a hurry crossed, putting their safety at risk.
Then a gas station and a McDo settled. Suddenly, magic: a light with an integrated pedestrian crossing appeared. We preferred automobile fluidity and trade to people’s safety.
The Ministry of Transport sleeps on gas
There are dozens of examples like this. For years, citizens have complained, cities are doing everything they can to add stops, protrusions and flashing lights. What do the people at the Ministry of Transport do? This inertia, what is it due to?
Why does the media always have to get involved? Why must there always be people who, like little Sarah, leave their lives on the asphalt so that something can be done?