Faced with the increase in collisions involving pedestrians – they were 15% more frequent in the first nine months of 2022 than in 2021 – the Legault government is in turn calling for vigilance. Quebec implores motorists “to be even more careful than usual”, particularly in school zones.
“The increase in collisions involving pedestrians is concerning. Being even more careful than usual in the school zone is non-negotiable, ”reacted Thursday the office of the Minister of Transport and Deputy Prime Minister, Geneviève Guilbault.
On Wednesday, a coalition representing motorists, transit users, cyclists and pedestrians formally asked the provincial government to establish a government road safety strategy.
Such a measure has been talked about for a while now. The Legault government had also committed to implementing its implementation in 2018, when it tabled its Sustainable Mobility Policy.
“Five years later, this commitment is still pending,” lamented the executive director of the organization Piétons Québec, Sandrine Cabana-Degani. In the same breath, she maintained that “in Montreal, Laval, Matane, Saint-Basile-le-Grand, Gatineau, ten people have lost their lives and ten others have seen their lives changed forever since the beginning of December, while they just walked.”
Of the victims, half were over 60, she noted. “These deaths are preventable. They are the result of our collective inertia and disempowerment when it comes to road safety. »
Discussions to have
A first meeting between the firm of Mme Guilbault and Pedestrians Quebec “is already planned,” said the minister’s press secretary, Louis-Julien Dufresne, on Thursday. “Naturally, we will take the time to listen to them carefully. The safety of Quebecers has always been a priority for our government,” he insisted.
In the first nine months of 2022, some 39 pedestrians were killed in Quebec, a figure that is up 15% from the previous year. In the same period, 140 pedestrians were seriously injured, which represents a jump of 27% compared to 2021. Finally, 1,289 pedestrians have been slightly injured since the start of the year, an increase of 16%.
In the metropolis, a crossing guard who was on her first day of work was hit by the driver of a vehicle Tuesday afternoon in Montreal, at the corner of rue Prieur and avenue Papineau, a few hours after the holding a march of parents and children denouncing the dangers represented by motorized travel in school corridors. The brigadier was injured, but her life is out of danger.
“The SPVM police officers say that it is not a dangerous place because there have been no deaths of children… What are we waiting for, exactly? “, worried shortly after the facts the resident of Ahuntsic-Cartierville Murielle St-Jean, who crosses the intersection in question every day with her grandchildren.
With Nicolas Bérubé, The Press