White shoes were installed Sunday morning at the corner of Saint-Laurent Boulevard and Jean-Talon Street, at the location where pedestrian Fabienne Houde-Bastien, 31, lost her life in May.
“The shoes with which you walked your last steps will stand here proudly, like a symbol, which we hope will help to raise awareness and change things so that other tragedies like yours do not happen again” , testified the mother of the deceased, during a ceremony full of emotions.
For the first time, the organization Souliers et Vélosphantoms Québec paid tribute to a dead pedestrian. The ceremony was held Sunday morning in front of around a hundred people.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
The ceremony was held Sunday morning in front of around a hundred people.
“It’s now been five months since you left us. It’s as if only yesterday we could hear your voice. However, an eternity separates us from the last time we were able to hold you in our arms,” declared Fabienne’s mother, before making a promise to her daughter. “That of taking advantage of the chance we have to get up every morning, as difficult as it may be. »
Three times over the limit
On May 21, after an evening with friends, Fabienne Houde-Bastien walked on Boulevard Saint-Laurent on her way home. As the young thirty-year-old entered Jean-Talon Street, a driver arrived at high speed on Jean-Talon, burned his light and collided head-on with an SUV which was driving on Saint-Laurent. The impact was so violent that the hit vehicle rolled over and overturned on the young woman.
The driver, Vi Trung Ngo, is accused of injuring a man and killing Fabienne Houde-Bastien while driving under the influence and with a blood alcohol level that was too high. The 47-year-old mechanic had a blood alcohol level of 0.213 that night, almost three times the legal limit of 0.08.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
For the first time, the organization Souliers et Vélosphantoms Québec paid tribute to a dead pedestrian.
Owner of the Auto Vi garage in Rosemont, Vi Trung Ngo received no less than 40 tickets, including 4 times with a cell phone in hand, 2 times for running a red light and 5 times without a driver’s license. A month before the collision, Vi Trung Ngo hit a vehicle at low speed in front of police officers.
The first ghost shoes
For its tenth anniversary, Vélo Fantôme expanded its mandate and scope in September. The organization will now install memorials for cyclists as well as pedestrians across the province. A crowdfunding campaign was launched in September to support the group’s new mission. So far, more than $4,000 has been raised on the Zeffy platform.
With a renewed name, Souliers et Vélos phantoms Québec wishes to better highlight the seriousness and multiplication of human tragedies in terms of road safety. The white shoes will be installed at intersections where pedestrians die after a collision, as has already been the case for several years with ghost bikes.
The first ghost bike was installed in 2013 in memory of cyclist Suzanne Châtelain, who died following a car crash on July 18, 2013 at the corner of avenue du Parc and rue Saint-Viateur.
With Louis-Samuel Perron and Henri Ouellette-Vézina, The Press