Montreal police raise awareness about pedestrian safety through visual campaign
Posted July 16, 2024 1:32 pm.
Last Updated July 16, 2024 6:25 pm.
Montreal police are urging drivers to be more vigilant on the roads with their visual campaign, “Regardez-moi,” or “Look at me,” which aims to raise awareness about the importance of paying attention while driving.
On Tuesday morning, officers stationed a truck at the corner of Notre-Dame Street and Lebrun Avenue displaying images of collisions involving pedestrians.
“We are doing this campaign this morning because we want drivers to be aware of their environment,” says Lieutenant Danny Richer from Montreal police (SPVM).
The location was chosen for its high volume in traffic.
“Notre-Dame Street, we all know people take it to go to Montreal downtown or the heavy trucks to go inside the port or go out of Montreal,” said Richer. “We are here this morning to maximize the number of people we want to see the images.”
The campaign is not just for drivers but for pedestrians and cyclists as well.
Montreal police data shows that so far this year, there have been 536 accidents involving pedestrians, resulting in nine pedestrians deaths.
Executive director of Piétons Quebec, Sandrine Cabana-Degani, applauds the initiative but says part of keeping pedestrians safe is to improve the infrastructure on the main roads.
“The main roads in Montreal has the majority of fatal collision for involving pedestrians,” she said.
Adding that she would like to see more curb extensions, raised intersections and longer crossing signals that would give enough time for pedestrians to cross.
“Pedestrian and cyclist when they are on the street [should] be aware not using any cell phones and watch for the other drivers when they cross,” said Richer.
“There’s a lot of traffic at that intersection, since the beginning of the summer, I’ve seen three, four accidents there,” said one man who lives near the intersection.
“It’s a good initiative for the drivers to pay attention to the road because there are a lot of kids that walk without looking,’ said another Montreal woman.
