Tragic week for pedestrians | Our inertia kills

In the past few days, five people have lost their lives and five others have seen their lives changed forever after they were simply caught walking…

Sandrine Cabana Degani

General Manager of Pedestrians Quebec

When they got up in the morning, these 10 people had no idea that their trip to work, the grocery store, the pharmacy or their car would cost them their lives. These people were possibly grandparents, parents, children, they had friends or friends, work colleagues. Behind each of these deaths and serious injuries, there are human tragedies and disrupted lives.

When are we going to say to ourselves, “Enough is enough? »

Road deaths have long been treated as part of the rules of the game. The distracted pedestrian has often been blamed. But it’s wrong. We know how to do^⁠1 to prevent pedestrian fatalities.

We got it, by the way. The Sûreté du Québec has adopted the approach of zero deaths and serious injuries. The cities of Montreal, Drummondville, Trois-Rivières, Quebec City and Gatineau are implementing this approach or drawing inspiration from it in their road safety strategy. The Sustainable Mobility Policy of the Ministère des Transports et de la Mobilité durable established the objective, four years ago, of making it Quebec’s reference framework for road safety.

Now we must act. Immediately and systematically.

The vision zero approach is simple. It consists of physically preventing a person from being subjected to a shock that could kill him, whether he is walking, cycling or driving.

We will therefore not only be talking about safe behavior, but above all about safe speeds, streets and vehicles.

For a pedestrian, a collision has a high risk of being fatal above 30 kilometers per hour. When higher speeds are authorized, facilities must therefore be provided which prevent pedestrians from being exposed to the danger of motorized traffic and which contribute to slowing it down.

Known facilities

We know them, these facilities: sufficiently wide sidewalks, projections that narrow the roadway to be crossed, central islands where to take refuge, raised intersections, etc. We know that we drive faster on a wider street, that we turn faster when the turning radius is too generous – and that conversely, we slow down when the streets and lanes are narrower and better framed by buildings or trees.

But building safe streets will not be enough. The vehicles circulating there must also take into account the safety of users outside them. How can we avoid a collision if the design of the vehicles and trucks circulating in our living environments creates enormous blind spots?

Heavy trucks with a flat nose, cars with a lower hood, cameras and sensors are all known and simple solutions that just need to be applied.

So we know what to do, but the challenge remains: to overcome inertia and apply these solutions systematically in Quebec, a revolution is necessary…

We must revolutionize our road system, our culture, our land use planning, our laws and our Highway Safety Code, our standards, the training of our civil engineers; because everything is still too focused on the fluidity of motorized travel, often to the detriment of the safety of vulnerable users.

We all have a role to play in this revolution. It is today that we can act to save lives in five years, ten years! We must mobilize to ensure that with each street repair and repair, children and seniors can cross it safely for the next 25 years and to ensure that the vehicles that travel there are safer. We can also make a difference by being careful behind the wheel. Because after all, this issue concerns everyone: whether it is to cover a few steps or tens of kilometres, we are all pedestrians.

Unfortunately, these recent deaths are no exception. On average, a pedestrian dies every five days in Quebec. So, are you ready to save lives?