At least ten people lost their lives on the roads of Quebec during the long weekend, a “catastrophic” report which raises fears of the worst for the rest of the summer season. Last year, at the same time, only two people died.
This was revealed on Tuesday by the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), confirming that “ten fatal collisions occurred on the territory of the Sûreté du Québec during the long leave, including nine on the road network and one on the network. recreational tourism”.
“Whether it is a false maneuver, loss of control, fatigue, the fact of not having adapted his driving to the climatic and road conditions, the behavior of the drivers is in question in most collisions”, continued the police force. , who assures that his police officers had nevertheless “made efforts by intensifying surveillance and increasing the number of interventions”.
This year, three of the ten deaths occurred in the Capitale-Nationale and Chaudière-Appalaches regions, two in Mauricie-Lanaudière, two in Outaouais-Laurentides, one in Greater Montreal and one in Bas-Saint-Laurent.
For the same period, last year, there were only “two deaths in two collisions”, recalled the Sûreté du Québec.
According to the police, speeding and reckless driving, distraction, driving while impaired by alcohol, drugs or a combination of the two, as well as failure to wear a seat belt, “always remain the main causes of fatal or seriously injured collisions in Quebec”.
The SQ recalls that its 2021-2026 Transportation Network Safety Strategy “aims to reduce the number of fatal collisions and collisions with serious injuries on the road and recreational tourism networks”. Various intervention and awareness measures are taken on an ongoing basis to “make our roads, trails and bodies of water safer”.
It will take an “electroshock”
For CAA-Quebec’s director of public affairs, Nicolas Ryan, these data are “particularly worrying, especially when we know that we have not even entered the period of major summer travel yet”.
He recalls that the Société de l’assurance automobile (SAAQ) must reveal its road safety record for 2022 in the coming days. “Already, we hear between the branches that we risk having the worst balance sheet of the last 10 years. And when you look at the figures for 2023, it’s catastrophic and very worrying. There is really something wrong. It’s getting worse and worse,” says Ryan.
The spokesperson for CAA-Quebec, who had access to the breakdown of the data, also recalls that the weekend deaths “are as many men as women”. “There are cars, pedestrians, cyclists, mountain bikes. It affects everyone a little, there is not really a typical portrait, ”he argues.
To most, it seems like silly human error. It’s gonna take a shock to remind people to be careful. We have to go back to basics: slow down, be careful, take refresher courses if necessary, in short, take collective responsibility.
Nicolas Ryan, director of public affairs at CAA-Quebec
In mid-May, the SAAQ had called on users to be vigilant on the roads of the province, when seven motorcyclists had lost their lives in collisions during the previous week, a trend which, again, raised fears of the worst.
“Early in the morning and late in the evening, the asphalt can be colder and the grip of the tires is not the same. You really have to adapt your driving to the environment around you and to the weather,” argued the Company’s spokesperson, Anne Marie Dussault Turcotte.
A government “reinforced action plan” for road safety is also expected next month. It is the Minister of Transport Geneviève Guilbault, who has been questioned on numerous occasions in recent weeks on the safety of the most vulnerable users, who will table it.