Everything would be so much better if there were no walkers, no old people who move slowly, no children having fun, no young people on scooters, no cyclists, no joggers, no people in wheelchairs … So motorists, but especially truckers, could finally drive unhindered in the streets of Montreal. No need to do stops, to limit its speed, to respect parking regulations.
Unfortunately, we are already there.
If I crossed the street when I’m allowed to, on Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, I would be hit by a vehicle a few times a day. The quadrilateral formed by Sherbrooke, Saint-Joseph, Saint-Denis and Saint-Laurent streets, which is my neighborhood, has been completely abandoned by the municipal administration with regard to safety and traffic, as well as others on the island. It has become a Wild West area. At the wheel, everyone does what they want, without being bored.
We are overrun with cars and trucks, big and small; overrun by drivers who no longer stop at stops; invaded by vehicles that use neighborhood residential streets to avoid major arteries, and invaded by vehicles that do not respect any regulations. Worse, we now see vehicles driving in the opposite direction on a one-way street every day! We are there.
But who, in the City of Montreal, authorized the delivery trucks of large breweries to park in spaces reserved for buses? Why can these large trucks partially or completely block arteries, such as avenue des Pins or boulevard Saint-Laurent – just that! -, to unload pallets of beer in convenience stores? Who decided that the employees of the City of Montreal could use the small neighborhood streets with their vehicle to go faster and avoid the main arteries, contrary to what is clearly provided for in the City’s bylaws? Why don’t we tackle the increasingly ignored mandatory stoppage issues? It is no longer important? When were courier trucks like UPS allowed to run anytime, morning to night, throughout the week, and stop in the middle of the streets to deliver, and not having to park because they are in a hurry, such as paramedics or police? Have we been consulted? Why don’t Purolator’s small electric vehicles have to stop at stops? Who allowed all of this in the city? Have we thought about the residents?
And why are we permanently closing fairly important transit streets, on the Plateau, and diverting all traffic in the neighboring residential streets, as is the case with Roy terraces where, overnight? , a few hundred transit vehicles, cars and trucks, are transferred daily to the small streets of Bullion, Laval and Napoléon? What is the meaning of this choice? Is this a step forward?
The road behavior of transit drivers, who seek to get to their destination quickly, has nothing to do with that of a resident returning home.
The place of human beings in my neighborhood is increasingly reduced and threatened. The citizen ends up feeling too much in this mess.
Insecurity, aggressive driving, noise, pollution, streets closed, diverted, rutted, the impossibility of finding a parking space, and I would add the lack of listening and solutions at the town hall , weary anyone who lives in Le Plateau-Mont-Royal. It looks like the town halls of the Plateau and the city center have abdicated.