Three recommendations following the death of a pedestrian in Arvida in January

Coroner Arnaud Samson is issuing three recommendations following the accident that cost the life of a pedestrian on January 16 at the intersection of Rue Joule and Boulevard du Saguenay, in the Arvida sector of Jonquière.

Dr. Samson recommends reducing the speed limit from 50 to 30 km/h approaching the crossing, building a raised intersection and creating a refuge island in the middle of the boulevard.

He also concluded that it was an accidental death.

Daniel Simard died of multiple trauma after being knocked down by a vehicle that did not react to his crossing as a pedestrian on a priority pedestrian crossing, the coroner wrote in his report, which was made public.

At around 6:40 a.m., the victim was crossing Saguenay Boulevard at Joule Street across from Riverside School. He was heading to the bus stop on the north side to meet friends for lunch. He was hit by a car traveling toward Jonquière at about 50 kilometers per hour, the speed limit.

The 67-year-old man was treated at the Enfant-de-Jésus hospital in Quebec, where he died a few days later, on January 20.

Sector councillor Carl Dufour welcomed these recommendations and indicated that measures aimed at increasing the safety of the pedestrian crossing had already been proposed, namely flashing lights activated by a button.

We have recommendations today, and in this location, we had already planned for the Jonquière borough to put an amount of money to install flashing lights to improve this pedestrian crossing area. And there we have recommendations. We have three recommendations that are made by the coroner. We will sit down with our services, and then we will look at which one or ones we could add to our flashing lights that we will probably be able to install in the coming months.commented the man who is also the district president.