What happens when you, as a pedestrian, in Ontario or New England, step into a crosswalk? Cars stop immediately.
Are Ontarians and Americans more courteous, more civilized than we are? No. They were “tamed” by a barrage of fines as soon as these pedestrian crossings were put in place. So much so that the word got around: no tolerance, priority to pedestrians. We’ve had these crossings here for about fifteen years, if not more, and, due to the lack of sanctions, the bad habit of not respecting these crossings has been taken on, it is now difficult to get rid of it. On many streets, stop signs have been added at intersections, since it seemed impossible to enforce these crossings.
It’s the same problem with blocking streets at intersections where cars move forward when the yellow light turns red. Twenty years ago, in New York, the police gave out $400 tickets for this infraction. Here, we’ve just woken up: the blocking is seriously hampering traffic flow. Hefty fines have been announced. I can’t wait to see…
In the United States, speeding along construction sites is no joke either: it is announced that the fine will be doubled and it is done.
These examples only demonstrate that “where there’s a will, there’s a way.” But in Quebec, we don’t seem to want to use the stick often enough to protect the lives of pedestrians or workers. Instead, we make expensive advertising messages and spend, as in Candiac, to install intelligent pedestrian crossings, at an estimated cost of $50,000 each.
Would the solution be to have a special category of security officers who would be responsible for managing traffic when the lights are out or in congestion, and who could also issue this type of ticket?