Quebec police officers mobilized against recklessness on the roads

The Association of Police Directors of Quebec (ADPQ) held a press conference at Gatineau City Hall on Thursday morning to announce the deployment of the operation carried out in collaboration with Vélos Québec, Piétons Québec and the Société of Quebec automobile insurance.

“It’s an operation that targets issues that people can [rencontrer] when it comes to road safety,” explains the director of the City of Gatineau Police Department, Simon Fournier. The issues raised during this concerted operation affect all types of road users in the province, indicates the ADPQ.

“In Gatineau, for example, we promote active transportation, bicycles, pedestrians. We have a very urban environment, we have a rural environment. As a police organization, we must be on the lookout for all possible road safety issues,” adds Mr. Fournier.

Several modus operandi will be put forward during this concerted operation, specifies Mr. Fournier, which represents a sort of awareness “blitz” whose main objective is prevention. “The police can be very visible on a street corner to carry out prevention with pedestrians who will cross the city center, operations at cycle path intersections, on busy streets. It’s going to be a very large operation.”

50% of deaths

SAAQ data shows that reckless behavior (failure to give way, following a vehicle too closely, omitting a mandatory stop or passing a red light) is responsible for approximately 50% of deaths on Quebec roads. Between 2018 and 2022, these behaviors cost around 175 people their lives per year.

As for distractions, they claimed the lives of an average of 135 people per year during the same period.

“The distraction is on both sides. More and more, we see pedestrians walking around looking at their cell phones, but we also see motorists looking at their cell phones while driving,” specifies the president of the ADPQ, Pierre Brochet. “Everyone needs to be aware. The road belongs to everyone. But we must remember that cyclists and pedestrians are vulnerable. They have no walls, no protection.”

The director of programs and spokesperson at Vélo Québec, Magali Bebronne, also believes that the operation serves as a good opportunity to “watch out for the smallest and most fragile,” since motorists have, proportionally, a greater responsibility.

“We are not all equal. It is a certain equity that we must aim for, she explains. But obviously, these precautions apply to drivers, but we also call for the responsibility of cyclists to respect the priority of pedestrians. We hear the feeling of insecurity of certain pedestrians who feel put in danger by cyclists and that is not acceptable. […] Often, the solution to a problem of poor cyclist behavior is to provide quality cycling infrastructure where people feel safe.”

Promote police work

The launch of this concerted national operation also aims to promote the police function, explains Mr. Brochet.

For almost three years, 17 video clips have been unveiled to recognize the work of police officers, particularly those responsible for road safety, he adds. “It’s often a thankless job. Few citizens are happy about giving tickets. We want to ensure that citizens understand why we are doing it. We do it to save lives and seriously injured people.”

Since the launch of the capsules, Mr. Brochet claims to have noted the impact on public opinion.

“We launched this following the [décès de Georges Floyd] where all police services in Quebec were criticized. We were compared to American police services, but it is incomparable. To become a police officer here in Quebec, it takes four years of training. In some US states, it’s a few months. It irritated us a lot to be compared in terms of aggressiveness, he says. But I have felt a movement since the directors took a stand, I think it has had a good impact.