In four weeks, as part of a surveillance blitz linked to the start of the school year, the Montreal police issued more than 6,200 tickets to road users, including more than 2,400 for speeding. Photo radars installed in school zones also made it possible to detect nearly 1,700 other offenses.
At least that’s what we learn in the results of the “Back to school 2023” operation of the Montreal City Police Service (SPVM). Increased surveillance was ensured from August 28 to September 22 around several schools in the metropolis, with the aim of dissuading users from driving too fast.
Result: 6,246 tickets were issued, including 285 for speeding in a school zone, where the fines are doubled. Some 2,144 other motorists driving beyond the limits were intercepted on the road network, outside school zones. The rest of the tickets, i.e. 3,724 of them, were handed in for various “other offenses,” says the SPVM, without giving further details.
The police, however, specify that they have arrested 90 motorists and three cyclists for failing to stop at the intermittent red lights of a school bus.
During this time, the photo radars which had been installed near the schools made it possible to detect 1,675 offenses, out of a total of more than 30,000 vehicles detected. In total, these radars were in operation for almost 120 hours.
But the work is not finished, says Montreal police. “The safety of all road users is a constant priority throughout the year,” explained Thursday the commander and head of the SPVM Road Safety Section, Stéphane Desroches.
He maintains, however, that “the start of the school year is obviously a strong time because in addition to ensuring the safety of little ones, we must sometimes call to order those who have lost certain safety reflexes during the period. summer”.
In addition to repression, around 1,180 prevention activities have taken place in around thirty neighborhood stations (PDQ) in the territory since August, “reaching more than 3,000 people” according to the SPVM.
The latter specifies that its neighborhood stations “carry out road safety prevention and surveillance operations throughout the year, in addition to Concerted National Operations (ONC) with all police forces in the province”.
The Montreal police also recall “having innovated this year as part of the living radar project”. These are mainly students wearing backpacks indicating the speed of motorists near schools, which appeared on the streets of the metropolis at the beginning of September. The stated aim is “to create immediate awareness of the dangers of excessive speed in school zones”.
In recent weeks, Montreal has reiterated its requests to the Quebec government for the installation of more photo radars. Mayor Valérie Plante has already stated that she wants to add around sixty of these devices. There are currently 54 in Quebec, but the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, has already confirmed that she wants to quickly increase their number.