Montreal has just redesigned the street in front of a school in Plateau-Mont-Royal to secure the premises, put a brake on through traffic, and give more space to schoolchildren, a project that could produce more in the coming years.
The nearly 400 children at Paul-Bruchési Primary School will now have access to a school space in front of their school, one of the first permanent secure facilities of its kind in Montreal, and the first in the Plateau-Mont district. -Royal.
“This was a request from the school’s governing board for several years, because the schoolyard is too small, and we are happy to be able to put it in place today,” explains Marianne Giguère, school advisor. city for the district of De Lorimier and associate advisor to the executive committee of the City of Montreal.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Created by the development firm l’Arpent, the school square occupies the section of rue de Lanaudière which is located between rue Gilford to the south and boulevard Saint-Joseph to the north. Eight large church benches and three picnic tables have been installed along the square, as have several stands displaying drawings made by children. On the ground, colorful designs were made from children’s drawings.
The place will be cleared of snow during the winter, and a clearance of 3.5 meters has been left between the large concrete bins which demarcate the area in order to allow the passage of emergency vehicles.
Next year, urban agriculture bins will be installed, so that children will be able to grow vegetables there. The community organization Maison d’Aurore, whose premises are adjacent to the square, is participating in the project.
“Also, we want to keep the feeling of space of the place. And even that the children will be able to come and do activities with their teacher,” says Mme Giguère.
To carry out the project, the circulation of motorized vehicles was prohibited on this section. The drop-off point used by school buses is located on the other side of the establishment, on rue Chambord, and has not been affected. A new landing stage has also been built on rue Garnier, not far from the school.
“Most of the children in the neighborhood come on foot, and the street is located between the school and the Saint-Stanislas-de-Kostka church, and was not very busy,” says Marianne Giguère. It might have been more complicated if there had been condos or businesses here, for example, but that’s not the case. »
Mme Giguère hopes that other schools will be able to benefit from such arrangements elsewhere in Montreal.
“It’s not something we’re going to impose. It has to come from the community, people have to ask for it and take part in the project,” she says.
Eight bad behaviors per minute
This all comes as the behavior of many drivers of motor vehicles near schools in the province continues to worry the authorities.
On Thursday, CAA-Quebec held an “observation in school zones” activity, as it has been doing for several years. In total, nine schools spread across the province, in Montreal, Quebec, Mauricie, Centre-du-Québec and Chaudière-Appalaches, were monitored at the start of the school year. .
Result: a total of 425 “risky or prohibited” behaviors were observed in 45 minutes, which roughly represents nearly eight bad behaviors per minute, we read in a report from the organization.
Of these 425 risky behaviors, more than half of the offenses (214) were related to speed “approaching and within the school zone” by motorists, and this “despite well-present signage and flashing posters with 30 km/h”.
Motorists also represent 83% of the problematic behavior detected, namely 352 of them. The rest were committed by pedestrians, cyclists or scooter riders (48), parents near schools (25) or even school bus drivers (23).
“We saw people making U-turns in front of the school or even unloading children with their four flashers in the middle of the lane by opening the driver’s side door. It’s very dangerous. There were also motorists who did not respect the school bus sign,” CAA spokesperson David Marcille told La Presse.
According to him, these data “do not demonstrate that there is still a lot of work to be done in road safety to make users aware of the need to be vigilant in school zones, but also throughout the road network.”
In addition to speed, non-compliance with road signs, crossing guard instructions and priority of passage was also observed on several occasions, as was non-use of indicators, use of cell phones while driving or even non-compliance with road signs. -wearing a seat belt. “There is clearly accountability that must be done individually. And that concerns all users,” concludes Mr. Marcille.