Painting additional lines and numbers on the asphalt is not enough to encourage drivers to slow down, found the Ministère des Transports du Québec (MTQ) after a pilot project carried out in a dozen municipalities.
Motorists who, during the summer, passed through Saint-Damien, in Lanaudière, through Lantier, in the Laurentians, or through Sainte-Geneviève-de-Batiscan, in Mauricie, may have noticed unusual patterns on the roadway . Cross strips have been added on either side of the lane on sections of the road. Objective: to create an illusion for the driver who crosses these zones by giving him the impression that his vehicle is accelerating, in order to encourage him to ease off. Illusion didn’t work, learned The Press.
“It is unfortunately not conclusive,” summarized MTQ spokesperson Sarah Bensadoun.
These cross-strips have been tested in eight municipalities. The two other markings evaluated, ie hatching on the right side of the lane (three municipalities) and the mention “50 km/h” (two municipalities) did not dampen the enthusiasm any further. Only the speed reminder took effect, but only during the first month, said Mme Bensadoun.
This “vast pilot project” covering “about twenty sites throughout Quebec” was announced in the summer of 2021 by Minister François Bonnardel, then responsible for Transport. It was finally conducted at 13 sites last summer and fall. The portions of provincial roads chosen had to be used by less than 1000 vehicles per day, be straight for at least 200 meters and not present any development slowing traffic (speed bumps, stop, traffic light, access to a business, etc.) . The markings were inspired by Canadian guide to traffic calming of the Transportation Association of Canada.
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PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTS OF QUEBEC
A crossbar marking, tested by the MTQ in eight municipalities in 2022
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PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE QUEBEC MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTS
A hatched marking, tested by the MTQ in three municipalities in 2022
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PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTS OF QUEBEC
Marking tested by the MTQ in two municipalities in 2022
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In Saint-Damien, the cross stripes were painted on Route 347, between Chemin du Grand-Monarque and Rue Joseph-Dubeau. “There is zero impact, it does not make us slow down. I was really angry! “, testified Mélanie Prescott.
In April 2021, his two daughters were hit by a car while taking the pedestrian crossing leading to the municipal park on Route 347, where the posted speed is 70 km / h.
Almost two years later, the eldest, Harmonie, now 13 years old, still has scars. She was operated on her legs, but her head trauma causes memory problems. The young girl, who previously did very well in class, had to redo her first year of secondary school and was bullied.
“We chose to move for his mental health, we had to start fresh,” said Ms.me Prescott, who continues to be involved in the Mobilization group to secure the pedestrian crossing in Saint-Damien. The municipality asked Quebec to reduce the speed in this area, without success. The announcement of the marking of the MTQ, in August 2021, therefore aroused strong criticism in this village of 2,200 inhabitants.
“Level Zero”
“I do not condemn the fact of trying, but I am not surprised that it does not work”, commented the director of the INRS’s Pedestrians and Urban Space Laboratory, Marie-Soleil Cloutier, about the entire tagging project.
In open areas such as a typical “MTQ street” in a rural environment, few studies have demonstrated a real reduction in speed with markings alone.
Marie-Soleil Cloutier, Director of the Pedestrians and Urban Space Laboratory at INRS
A wide lane, with a paved shoulder and few buildings on the edge, provides few visual clues giving “want to reduce speed”, explains the researcher.
Interventions such as reducing the width of the carriageway, planting trees at the side of the road or installing and announcing a speed camera are more effective because they give “an illusion that we are entering areas where we need speed lower “.
And reduce the speed limit? This encourages slowing down, but not to the posted limit, found his lab. “The panel works, but it’s level zero. In an ideal world, the physical layout should be changed so that people spontaneously reduce their speed. »
The criteria used by the Ministry to agree to reduce the speed on one of its roads are however “quite severe”, notes Mme Cloutier. “It lacks a bit of flexibility and consideration of the local context. »
According to her, “a pedestrian crossing on a road at 70 km/h should not be allowed”.
The MTQ asked Saint-Damien to propose road and pedestrian development plans. These plans are being analyzed, says the Ministry. “It is not impossible that we lower the speed afterwards”, specifies Mme Bensadoun.
By not securing the pedestrian crossing leading to the Saint-Damien municipal park, “we were told that our lives were worth less than those of motorists,” Harmonie denounced in a letter to the Minister of Transport last year.
Take action, don’t let us be another statistic in your sad road records.
Harmonie, 13, in a letter to the transport minister last year
A dozen mayors also launched a cry from the heart last year. The roads under the management of the MTQ, which are often the main street of a village, are “real barriers to safe pedestrian paths and harm the quality of life of the population”, they underlined in an open letter published in the pages of The Press.