The SQ agent was traveling on the Grande-Ligne road in Saint-Rosaire around noon on August 7, 2020, when his radar device revealed to him the speed of the car crossed: 155 km / h, or 65 km at the above the permitted limit of 90. The driver disputed the ticket and invoked a “defence of necessity”, inventing a motorcycle supposedly following him too closely.
The Municipal Court of Victoriaville did not believe him and declared him guilty of the offense for “extreme speeding”. There were 7,596 offenses reported for the same fault in Quebec in 2020. This time, the fine was $810, plus court fees, and 14 license demerit points out of a maximum of 15. This amount and registration of points were half as high before 2011.
Is it now too much, or just enough? Moreover, how are these sanctions decided? How does the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) modulate the penalties for non-compliance with the Highway Code?
“To make our proposal to the legislator, we take into account in particular the best practices in road safety, the legislation of other Canadian administrations (calibration as to the amount of fines and the number of points awarded in the other Canadian provinces) as well as the position of some of our partners on the matter,” explained Mario Vaillancourt, vice-president of marketing strategies at the SAAQ, by email. He adds that the result may testify to the will of the legislator “to send a clear message” on behavior deemed unacceptable by playing with fines, points, license suspensions or vehicle seizures.
Me Marc Bellemare, a lawyer specializing in the defense of road accident victims for more than four decades, brushes aside the SAAQ’s claim to draw inspiration from international best practices. “Quebec is a driver’s paradise,” he says. This is checked with the fines given and the convictions pronounced, but also with the 0.05 of alcohol in the blood, a threshold which is not adopted here. Elsewhere in Canada, this level leads to the suspension of the license, a confiscation of the vehicle. Here in Quebec, it’s the best place in the world to make mistakes with the car. »
In some European countries, speeding tickets are calculated in proportion to wages. And that can hurt the wallet a lot.
In Norway, penalties can reach 10% of annual income. In Finland, speeding below the 20 km/h threshold is penalized by a fixed scale. The complex system linked to the monthly salary applies beyond this threshold. In 2004, an industrialist paid 170,000 euros for driving at 80 km/h in a zone of 40.
In Quebec, the same fault would have cost $350. There were 1826 tickets handed out in 2020 for speeding over 40 km/h in a zone under 60. Here, the highest expected fine is under $2000 for speeding over 220 km/h in a 60 zone.
We don’t mess with the overexcited drivers in some Canadian provinces or the United States either. Ontario provides for fines of up to $10,000 for excessive speed. In Oregon, a first offense can cost $5,000.
Many European countries provide for the automatic withdrawal of the license in the event of very high speeding from the first offense, as is also possible in Quebec. Some, such as France, Norway, Spain and Switzerland, have on the other hand adopted regulations to punish by imprisonment these large overruns of the limits (for example 100 km/h in a zone of 50). In Quebec, even a fourth offense in ten years does not automatically lead to prison, unless a judge decides to see it as dangerous driving.
Roll and kill
Motorized offenses are even more shocking when they involve young victims. The Highway Safety Code was revised in 2022 to double fines for speeding in school zones. According to the information provided by e-mail to Duty, the Ministère des Transports du Québec wishes to submit a new improved action plan this summer to protect the most vulnerable users. It could for example add the installation of photo radars.
Minister Geneviève Guilbault mentioned at the end of April the possibility of increasing the number of demerit points on licenses for non-compliance with speed limits of 30 km / h and safety measures in school zones. Failing to comply with the orders of a crossing guard currently costs between $200 and $400 in fines and 4 demerit points out of the 15 on a license for a person over 25 years of age. By contrast, in the Netherlands, the streets around many primary schools are simply car-free at the start and end of classes.
The oppositions of Quebec have joined forces to strengthen road safety near schools and areas frequented by children. These steps come a few months after the death of student Mariia Legenkovska, a young 7-year-old Ukrainian refugee, who was fatally hit by an SUV near her Montreal school at 8 a.m. The driver is awaiting trial for a fatal hit-and-run.
The Tank Empire
“We don’t talk enough about the subject of sanctions,” says Sandrine Cabana-Degani, director general of Piéton Québec, an organization for the defense of the rights of people traveling on foot. Behaviors that endanger pedestrians are in fact very little sanctioned in Quebec, even if the Highway Code was reviewed in 2018.
The organization is campaigning in particular to further sanction non-compliance with a pedestrian crossing, a potentially lethal fault which does not currently result in the imposition of demerit points. Mme Cabana-Degani does not want to comment on possible fines in proportion to wages, but calls for firmer sanctions. “Higher fines are needed, particularly for exceeding speed limits in urban areas, where there are a lot of pedestrians”, says the dg
She adds that section 327 concerning dangerous driving that could endanger the safety of people (the one providing for fines of $1,000 to $2,000) is rarely applied. “To file lawsuits at this time, you have to consider a marked deviation from the norm, says the dg Or, the social norm remains very tolerant, for example for speeding. We also accept that a motorist can be distracted and cause the death of a pedestrian. There is a huge stake there for us. »
Behaviors that endanger pedestrians are in fact very little sanctioned in Quebec, even if the Highway Code was reviewed in 2018.
Me Finally, Bellemare recalls the importance of car culture in this corner of a continent which makes it a necessity, but also an object of desire and passion. There are more cars here (5.3 million) than adults aged 20 to 64 (5.1 million).
“I understood that the political weight of motorists is more important, says the lawyer from Quebec. The government has always been wary of any form of intervention with the automobile. If you touch a car, it’s like tearing out the heart of the average Quebecer. The car is a kind of religion in Quebec, perhaps a little less in Montreal, where there is significant public transport. »