For Quebecers who travel outside the province, the phenomenon has something almost magical. Elsewhere, you approach a pedestrian crossing… and the cars stop to let you cross!
Published yesterday at 7:00 a.m.
If you’re like me, you might even feel some discomfort about it.
“I didn’t want to interrupt the traffic, I could have waited my turn,” I sometimes say to myself as I hurry to cross so as not to delay anyone.
Failure to respect pedestrian crossings is part of Quebec’s specificity, just like poutine or debates on how to pronounce the word “whale”. But at a time when groups are calling for a “road safety protector” to improve pedestrian safety1I wondered whether enforcing this provision of Road safety code would not be a simple solution to achieve this.
In Montreal, according to figures provided by the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), 17 pedestrians have lost their lives so far this year. Of the lot, one death occurred at a pedestrian crossing. It was in Anjou, at the end of summer. The victim was a 15-year-old boy.2.
In total, 1,005 other pedestrians were injured in the metropolis as of December 13. It is unknown how many were at pedestrian crossings.
At the SPVM, my idea of strengthening respect for passages does not arouse great enthusiasm.
“We agree that each death is one death too many. But since 2020, there has been only one death linked to a pedestrian crossing outside an intersection in Montreal,” replied Sergeant Jonathan Guillemette, supervisor of the Advisory Module of the Road Safety Section.
Year after year, the SPVM says it issues around 600 tickets related to non-compliance with pedestrian crossings. This is less than 0.2% of the approximately 350,000 tickets issued annually. The police force deduces that there is no particular delinquency linked to these passages.
I don’t necessarily see it as a problem any more than any other infraction. Where the crux of the matter lies is at the intersections. This is where the vast, vast majority of our collisions occur.
Sergeant Jonathan Guillemette, supervisor of the Advisory Module of the Road Safety Section
The SPVM nevertheless wishes to say that it regularly carries out special road safety operations during which the police pay particular attention to pedestrian crossings.
“If citizens notice that, in a particular sector, a pedestrian crossing is dangerous and is not respected, I invite them to contact their neighborhood post either by telephone or via the SPVM website,” adds Sergeant Guillemette.
“If it’s a planning problem, we will refer it, for example, to the City of Montreal,” he said. If it is really the fact that people are not respecting the pedestrian crossing, more sustained operations will be carried out. »
The SPVM is therefore far from sending the message that it does not care about pedestrian crossings. But he believes that the priority lies elsewhere.
A culture to change
I don’t want to pit perceptions against statistics. But I persist in thinking that there is a cultural problem in respecting pedestrian crossings. And that fixing it would contribute to the safety of pedestrians.
Sandrine Cabana-Degani, general director of Piétons Québec, agrees.
“It’s clear there’s a problem!” she said. We leave Quebec, we go to Ontario, New Brunswick, the United States, we notice it. As soon as we set foot on the street or even approach the pedestrian crossing, drivers stop. »
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
In 2018, the Outremont district tested pedestrian crossings painted in three dimensions in order to slow down cars.
According to her, the fact that there are not more accidents at pedestrian crossings is due to the vigilance of Quebec pedestrians. They have understood that these sleepers are practically an invitation to be knocked down if you trust them blindly.
What the specialists tell us is that in Quebec, it is generally the pedestrian who makes the evasive maneuver. He’s the one who stops and lets the cars pass. Elsewhere, it is more the driver who stops.
Sandrine Cabana-Degani, general director of Piétons Québec
“Does it make traveling on foot pleasant, safe, friendly? No,” continues Mme Cabana-Degani.
The director of Piétons Québec also points out that if the proportion of pedestrians killed at pedestrian crossings is indeed low (14% in Montreal, 9% in Quebec as a whole), this is not the case for accidents which occur in the middle of street, i.e. excluding intersections and pedestrian crossings.
“Probably pedestrians are crossing there because the intersection or crosswalk is too far away,” she said. Adding pedestrian crossings could therefore reduce the number of accidents… provided they are respected.
I add that if pedestrian crossings were more numerous and better respected, pedestrians would use them more to cross the streets, thus freeing intersections – these places of all dangers where vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians arrive from several directions at the same time.
Respected pedestrian crossings would also have the effect of slowing down motorists and increasing their vigilance.
Sandrine Cabana-Degani emphasizes that there is still progress. With the arrival of the Express Bike Network on rue Saint-Denis, in Montreal, pedestrian crossings that it considers exemplary have been created.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Cyclists on the Express Bike Network, rue Saint-Denis, pass in front of a pedestrian crossing located in the middle of the street.
Pedestrians can segment their crossing by standing on islands between the lanes. And removing parking spaces from crossings forces motorists to deviate from their route, which makes them more alert.
Elsewhere in Montreal, we see raised pedestrian crossings, a bit like speed bumps. This is the case, in particular, on avenue Letourneux, between rue de Rouen and rue Ontario. That too is positive.
The time has come to make everyone understand that these white stripes painted on the road are not decorative. When Quebecers will be able to look at the album cover Abbey Roadby the Beatles, without feeling the anxiety rising, we will know that they feel safer.
1. Read “Two years after the death of little Mariia: a “road safety protector” called for”
1. Read “Collision in Anjou: the teenager succumbs to his injuries”
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