Montreal police investigate after young girl hit by cyclist while crossing street

A video that’s been widely shared on social media Thursday shows a young girl crossing the street in Montreal to catch her school bus and getting hit by a cyclist.

It happened on Jeanne-Mance in Montreal’s Plateau neighbourhood.

When the girl crosses through the bike lane, the cyclist strikes her.

On Friday, Montreal police (SPVM) confirmed they have opened an investigation to find the cyclist.

“According to witnesses, the person on the bike was a woman and we’re still trying to locate them,” said SPVM spokesperson Sabrina Gauthier.

Both were knocked to the ground, but the young girl immediately sprung up and jumped into the adults’ arms. The cyclist also gets up and seemingly comes to the young girl’s side.

The cyclist and the young girl appeared to be uninjured.

The video was posted to social media platforms from resident Mayer Feig after a friend sent it to him. He posted the video in order to raise awareness and urge cyclists to use caution.

“Now that we have the video, I decided to go public because it’s happened too many times and God forbid I don’t want it to seriously injure any of the children here in the community,” said Feig.

Feig stated on social media that this is not the first time an incident like this happened. Roughly a year ago his son was hit by a cyclist, and he’s now calling on Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante and the SPVM to do more.

“My son about a year ago, when my wife was holding his hand and going onto the bus, a cyclist came by, knocked him with the handlebar and the forehead,” he explained. “I know he was emotionally traumatized for the next couple of weeks getting onto the bus. “

.@Val_Plante @SPVM @AVaillancourtPM @LucRabouin This is not the first time this occurs including to my own son, child is fine. More needs to be done happened on Jeanne Mance, Plateau pic.twitter.com/9alQZJXdc2

— Mayer Feig (@mayerfeig) May 9, 2024

Mayor Plante took to X, reacting to it saying: “This collision is shocking and serves as a reminder of the absolute importance of respecting the highway code and the flashing lights of school buses, which concern all road users. I am relieved to know that the child who was hit is doing well.”

Cette collision est choquante et vient rappeler l’importance absolue de respecter le code de la route et les feux clignotants des autobus scolaires, qui concernent tous les usagers de la route. Je suis soulagée de savoir que l’enfant qui a été frappée se porte bien. https://t.co/yQgF7w73dQ

— Valérie Plante (@Val_Plante) May 9, 2024

In a statement to CityNews, Plante’s office added “Any development will not be enough to protect users if the rules of the highway code are not respected. Our administration remains determined to accelerate the safety of all environments. At all times, bicycle facilities help to calm and make the streets safer, since they narrow the traffic lanes and can therefore limit the speed of vehicles.”

According to the Quebec government, road users can only meet or pass a school bus once the flashing red lights are turned off, the stop signal has been retracted and the person driving or cycling is certain that it is safe to continue.

“I’ve spoken to a couple of bus drivers and not only with kids getting on the buses, in general the stop signs of the school buses are not being respected. I have a bus driver that tells me every day he has to use his horn to honk to get attention of drivers. And he has made it a habit of having to move into the other lane of traffic to just block the roads to stop other cars sometimes from passing,” said Feig.

Some in the neighbourhood are now calling on the city for a concrete response. CityNews reached out to the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough mayor’s office but have not heard back at this time.

“I think the city should revisit the layout of this bike lane on a one-way street where traffic is coming from south to north and the tendency of the people and especially kids is just to look to the way of traffic and bikes coming the other way against them. I don’t think it’s the most appropriate way of putting a bike lane on the street,” said Feig.