The repetition of collisions at an exit of the Dufferin-Montmorency highway, in Quebec, indirectly revives the debate on the third link. Québec solidaire attributes the government’s refusal to close this intersection in part to its desire to prepare the ground for the Québec-Lévis tunnel.
“The Minister of Transport is keen on the highway, she wants to keep it there. Is it to evacuate the tens of thousands of cars that will be added there by a possible third link? If that’s the case, it’s really serious, ”said the solidarity deputy Sol Zanetti during a press briefing in Parliament on Wednesday morning.
The elected officials were accompanied by David Rioux and Coraline Toupin, a young couple who recently emerged almost unscathed from an accident at the François-de-Laval motorway exit, in the Beauport sector.
In 2021, a woman, her father and her two children died in the same place. A coroner’s report then recommended that the exit be redesigned.
The latter is located on the left lane of the highway, after a bend, in a 70 km/h zone. “I mentioned to my spouse when we were at the intersection that I found it dangerous. […] A few seconds later, the accident happened,” said Mr.me Toupin in front of the journalists. Originally from eastern Quebec, the couple took the exit for the first time.
Québec solidaire, which has been campaigning for years for the transformation of this portion of the highway into an urban boulevard, sees in this story one more argument to support its proposal. And indirectly, against the third link.
A photo radar that gives results, pleads the minister
The party demands, initially, the closure of the exit and, in the longer term, the conversion of this portion of the highway into an urban boulevard.
Minister Geneviève Guilbault, for her part, is putting on a new photo radar at this location. During question period on Wednesday, she reported that speeding had dropped by a third since her installation on February 3.
“The further we go, the more it will affect the behavior of drivers,” she said.
Earlier, Mr. Rioux and Mme Toupin said that the day after their accident, they were “shocked” to learn that the minister was relying on photo radar to secure the area. This is what prompted them to write to QS MPs complaining about it, they said.
“In fact, when you look at the accident rate at that intersection, it is considered low,” also defended the minister.
The scenario of a closure of the exit, she continued, is not excluded in the longer term. However, such a scenario would force, every day, thousands of motorists to take two other exits towards areas where schools and daycare centers are located, she argues. “At a time when we are all concerned with road safety, especially around schools, I think it is healthy to take this reality into account”.