The omnipotence of engineers and everything by car

I really liked François William Croteau’s column from June 12, which focused on the issues surrounding the use of public roads (“Let summer be seven years old”). Citing an article from There Tribune of May 10, it recounted the remarks of the director of the engineering, water and major projects department of the City of Sherbrooke in which she deplored “the interference of elected officials and citizens in what she considers to be the exclusive field of competence of engineers, namely road signs”. Recalling in passing that it is the Highway Safety Code which confers all this power to engineers, the former mayor of Rosemont–La Petite Patrie noted that the studies and recommendations of engineers, although legitimate, nevertheless seemed strongly oriented by pro-automobile considerations.

This ideological filter of everything in the car reminded me of my experience in a parents’ committee, around fifteen years ago. At the time, one of the files of the Parent Participation Organization (OPP) of the Sans-Frontières school, located in Rosemont, was the securing of the Bellechasse/9 intersection.e Avenue. To get to school, several children had to cross rue de Bellechasse and, although there was a stop sign in the north-south axis (9e Avenue), there were none in the east-west axis (of Bellechasse).

A pedestrian crossing as pale as it was symbolic reminded motorists that it might be okay to stop. I remember playing crossing guard many times, walking down the middle of the street, holding up an open hand to remind motorists of the existence of a pedestrian crossing and the fact that children had to cross the street. I was more treated to horns from impatient drivers than to kind looks from motorists. And, of course, I had to remind my sons that darting into the middle of the street like that was a task reserved for adults.

In this context, it is not surprising that many parents did not want their children to go to school alone. All in all, it was easier to drive them there on the way to work. Denouncing this situation, the OPP of the Sans-Frontières school mobilized parents and increased public interventions. In particular, we organized a demonstration jointly with the daycare service and circulated a petition that we had submitted during a meeting of the district council.

We also managed to listen attentively to the municipal councilor at the time, Carole Du Sault, from Gérald Tremblay’s Union Montréal team. I remember that this advisor found our demands relevant and that she tried in vain to advance them. But what was blocking… was the expertise of the engineers! We were knowledgeably told about the time required for the motorist’s eye to see a stop sign in correlation with the deceleration speed proportional to the flow of traffic.

What about the safety of children who go to school? Guess it wasn’t scientific enough…

We had to wait a few years for the political will of Valérie Plante’s team to change things, among other things thanks to the courageous Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie local travel plan, which made it possible to improve the safety of pedestrians, cyclists and people with reduced mobility. In the meantime, the public health department recognized that the feeling of safety was an important factor favoring walking to school.

Today, no offense to the “expert” engineers and busy motorists who consider that the street belongs to them, the intersection of Bellechasse/9e Avenue is secured with stop signs in all four directions, which reassures not only the parents and children of the Sans-Frontières school, but also the citizens using the swimming pool and the library located in front of the school. .

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