New Quebec road safety measures: lower speed limits, higher fines, radar cameras

Lower speed limits and higher fines are among the measures being implemented by the Quebec government to make the province’s roads safer, with a focus on school zones and road work sites.

The province says it is looking to keep pedestrians, cyclists and workers safe by introducing 27 measures by 2028.

The $180-million plan was unveiled Tuesday in Montreal by Quebec Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault and Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville.

“We will make sure we send a clear signal as a government that vulnerable people have to be protected and we will make sure that they are,” Guilbault said.

Guilbault says 392 people died on Quebec roads last year.

The plan would place a 30 km/h speed limit on most school zones in Quebec, with some exceptions. It would also dedicate an additional $68 million for municipalities to develop safer school zones.

Quebec Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault unveils new road safety measures for the province Aug. 22, 2023. (Swidda Rassy, CityNews)

The province says it will install radar cameras at school zones and road work sites.

Guilbault says the number of photo radars on the province’s roads — currently 54 — will be bumped up “significantly,” but no specific number was given.

“Photo radars, we know it works,” said Jean-Marie de Koninck, on the SAAQ board of directors. “It’s favoured by the population, over 80 per cent of the population of Quebec says it’s a good thing.”

Quebec also wants to increase fines and demerit points for certain infractions involving pedestrians and road construction workers.

It is exploring the increased used of automatic barriers at road work sites.

The plan was inspired by Vision Zero, an international road safety project to completely eliminate fatalities on the road.

Part of the plan includes education. The province intends to deploy a major road safety campaign; a review of driving courses content; and the mandatory basic training to drive a heavy vehicle.

‘Step in the right direction’

Pedestrian safety advocates at Piétons Québec called the measures “an excellent step in the right direction.”

The group’s director says she was waiting for big changes following 79 pedestrian deaths in 2022 – a 15-year high in the province.

“We’re happy that the plan focuses on vulnerable users,” Sandrine Cabana-Degani told CityNews.

“Of course, we will closely monitor the next step, because it is the next step that we are going to see a real change in road safety for pedestrians in Quebec.”

La stratégie de sécurité routière du gouvernement du Québec est un bon premier pas pour protéger les déplacements actifs des plus vulnérables. Bravo à @GGuilbaultCAQ pour son leadership!

Le gouvernement du Québec a fait le choix de mettre la sécurité des plus vulnérables sur nos… https://t.co/9ol2GwZlUO

— Valérie Plante (@Val_Plante) August 22, 2023

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante also called it a “good first step.”

“The Government of Quebec has chosen to put the safety of the most vulnerable on our roads at the heart of its new strategy, as the City of Montreal is already doing,” the mayor tweeted.

“We welcome the ambitious measures that will make our living environments even more secure, in particular the increase in the presence of speed cameras and the reduction of speed limits across Quebec.”

Specifics missing; questions unanswered 

The new road safety plan is so far just an outline of objectives, many of which will require the government to draft new laws and regulations.

The plan doesn’t specify, for example, how much fines will increase for unsafe road behaviour.

The president of the English Parents Committee Association says there are several questions left unanswered.

“The timeline says 2023, when in 2023?” said Katherine Korakakis. “It says we’re going to do stuff; it doesn’t necessarily spell out what we’re going to do. But I do have to say that after months and months of work, a grassroots movement of parents, we finally have the attention of the minister and things are happening.”

Korakakis is attributing the changes to a vocal movement of parents who expressed serious concerns after a seven-year-old was fatally struck in the Ville-Marie borough in December 2022. The child had just come to Canada two months prior, fleeing the war in Ukraine with her family.

“It’s really the mobilization of parents who were scared for their children and wanted something to change,” Korakakis said.