Last week, the Sûreté du Québec did something absolutely scandalous and it fortunately did not go under the radar: the provincial police reminded pedestrians and cyclists to adopt safe behavior… What nerve!
Vélo Québec climbed the line faster than a Lance Armstrong doped with EPO dropping the peloton at Mont Ventoux1 “We can’t believe it. It’s really shocking. It’s as if we were giving up and saying to ourselves that basically, motorists, we won’t be able to change them, ”said Magali Bebronne, program director.
At Piétons Québec, the same indignation: “The message that emerges from this campaign is that it is only cyclists and pedestrians who have the burden of ensuring their own safety”, protested the DG, Sandrine Cabana. -Degani.
In the press release from the SQ2you could read reminders and advice for cyclists and pedestrians…
Pedestrians: Cross at the intersection, respect the pedestrian lights, check traffic before crossing, establish visual contact with drivers, “otherwise assume they haven’t seen them”, be vigilant in the presence of heavy vehicles…
Cyclists: Be predictable and signal their intentions, be visible, wear a helmet, respect the signs and the right of way…
I emphasize here that my first and fourth paragraphs were sarcastic and that I consider that the Sûreté du Québec did nothing outrageous. On the other hand, I believe that the people of Vélo Québec and Piétons Québec have seized an opportunity to tear their shirts off inexpensively and talk about their respective causes without nuance.
The Sûreté du Québec organizes from time to time, in concert with the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec, “concerted national operations” to share the road that target dangerous behavior. And the one that runs from April 28 to May 4 targets pedestrians and cyclists. The vast majority of these campaigns target motorists with safety reminders.
Type “national concerted operation” in Google, with “Sûreté du Québec” and you will see that most of these operations have been targeting motorists for the 10 years they have existed. In this context, making a bad case against the SQ by imputing an anti-pedestrian bias to it is bad faith.
Before going any further, let me make it clear: of course cars and trucks represent the greatest dangers on the roads. No one disputes that. They must be targeted with awareness campaigns and sanctions, to discipline them. All of this exists, by the way.
I would add that the public authorities have a responsibility to develop the urban landscape to limit unfortunate interactions and I applaud each new one-way street, each sidewalk projection, each Express bicycle network, each cycle path as I have done a thousand both here and on the radio.
Things are changing, but not fast enough, we have to say it and say it again. That being said (and repeated), you have to live in a parallel world not to see that pedestrians and cyclists behave in an almost suicidal way.
Pedestrians crossing anywhere, looking at their cell phones, that’s common. It is not giving up or even lack of sensitivity to remind them to protect themselves.
According to Piétons Québec, if I understand correctly, pedestrians should cross the street looking straight ahead, without ever checking whether the cars that have to stop at the intersection will indeed do so because… the pedestrian has priority.
What will change, “pedestrian priority”, if said pedestrian spends three months at the Lucie-Bruneau rehabilitation center because he failed to take a look when crossing, because it is up to the motorist to make a mandatory stop?
Cyclists also need reminders. Driving upside down in one-way streets while looking at your phone, running through stop signs and red lights, then completely ignoring the signs on the REV: it’s everyday life in Montreal. We in no way blame this vulnerable user by reminding him to help himself a little (my words, not those of the SQ).
Memorandum for Piétons Québec and Vélo Québec: ideologically and socially, I am on your side. In this newspaper and on the radio, I have spoken a thousand times of the need to calm tank transports and applauded the revolution – it is one – which has begun to change the streets of Montreal over the past 15 years…
If I find that you are in bad faith on this, imagine the average bear.
And finishing the revolution of less tank-centric urban transport will not happen without the average bear.
Faque… So stop crying wolf.
ABOUT BIKE —
About a million of you blamed me for writing that I rode on Mount Royal with my headphones on, telling me that a) it was illegal b) dangerous for me and c) a bad example.
First, let me specify: I know it.
And the only place I do, where I take the (minimal) risk is… on the mountain. For what ? Because the risk to my safety is nil.
On the streets of the city, I never wear my headphones. Not because it’s forbidden, but because my survival depends on it. I want to hear the tanks coming up behind me. On Olmsted Road, on Mount Royal, there are no cars.
What if the police intercept me on the mountain?
I will pay for the ticket without asking you to contribute to my GoFundMe.
As for the bad example that I could give, let’s settle that with an omnibus decree: I refuse to be a model for anyone.
As for the handful of readers who reproached me for having listened to music while cycling on the mountain as if I were the head of a mafia gang which makes hats with the fur of kittens kidnapped in the alleys , quickly, report me to the nearest police station: it will be an activity for you.