Utiliser un stationnement pour contourner une interdiction de tourner à gauche n’est pas légal, rappelle la police de Montréal, au moment où une vidéo citoyenne a recensé une quarantaine de raccourcis illégaux en à peine une demi-heure au coin de l’avenue Papineau.
Par courriel, le Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) affirme en effet que son poste de quartier 22 est « bien au fait de cette situation ». « Son équipe a réalisé des opérations ponctuelles à cet endroit à plusieurs reprises et continuera de le faire », soutient la porte-parole, Anik de Repentigny.
La semaine dernière, sur le réseau social X, l’usager Nicolas Marcotte, connu pour ses vidéos de surveillance en matière de sécurité routière, avait dénoncé la « délinquance des automobilistes » devenue « hors de contrôle sur la rue Ontario », au coin de l’avenue Papineau, dans le Centre-Sud.
« Il est important de [le] document. I counted 42 illegal shortcuts in 35 minutes,” Marcotte said, providing supporting camera and drone footage.
By the term “illegal shortcuts”, he is referring more specifically to those motorists arriving from the east on Ontario Street who, because of the prohibited left turn, use the gas station located at the corner of Papineau Avenue to enter it anyway.
HAS The PressMr. Marcotte said that by “demonstrating the danger of the sector, I hope that governments will take note of their responsibility to protect citizens, regardless of the level and political considerations.”
File a complaint, say police
The SPVM emphasizes the importance of “reporting these delinquent behaviors on the road network” to its neighborhood stations. Mme de Repentigny recalls that each of these positions “has neighbourhood road safety officers (AQSR) on staff”, who “act as stakeholders and resource persons in matters of traffic flow and user safety”.
“They patrol it daily and are very familiar with the reality. The AQSRs are responsible for processing reports of delinquent behavior, analyzing them and proposing courses of action, whether in terms of awareness or repression, to tackle them,” the public relations officer continues.
Last year, the Montreal police had already issued several tickets in this area of the city, near the Jacques-Cartier Bridge, on Papineau Avenue. However, the operation was intended to put an end to the blocking of traffic by certain motorists who enter an intersection without checking whether there is enough space.
“This kind of thing poses significant dangers for everyone, including the motorists themselves, but also pedestrians and cyclists who then try to get around the vehicle. With spring coming, the risks are even greater,” said the head of the neighbourhood police station (PDQ) 22 in the Centre-Sud, Krisztina Balogh, in an interview.