Quebec stresses importance of road safety near schools

Road safety around school zones in Quebec remains a major concern for parents, which is why Quebec’s Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault was out bright and early on Friday morning helping students of Marguerite Bourgeois Elementary School — near downtown Montreal — cross the street before class. It’s all part of a new awareness campaign.

“Everyone […] has to take responsibility,” said Guilbault. “Everything we can do to keep this subject alive, to talk about it, to remind people of the basic rules, to remind people of the importance of just being aware of their own behaviour on the streets – whether they are cyclists, whether they are pedestrians, whether they are drivers.”

The awareness campaign — “Road Safety, I’m on Board!” — serves to address parents’ concerns over safety around school zones after two children were hit by a car in separate incidents in September and 7-year-old Mariia Legenkovska was killed while walking to school in December 2022.

“We actually saw a woman who didn’t stop for the stop sign on the school bus when it opened […] And it is nine points that you lose on your license when you don’t stop. And it actually happened just a little earlier this morning. So it is the demonstration that we are distracted,” added Guilbault.

“To put emphasis on security around schools is very important for all of us parents. We also play a role as well,” said Nicolas Gryson, a parent. “We come by bike every day, so there’s a lot of traffic in the small streets as well. There’s always a lot of traffic in the end. So, it’s always looking around where the cars are, where the dangers are. With two kids, it’s a task on its own.”

“It’s important to see the efforts that are being made in terms of road safety. And I think what the Minister has done this morning, there’s a big symbolism to this. It means that yes, road safety is important. It means that the safety of our children is important,” said Andre Durocher, Director of road safety community relations at CAA and a former Montreal police officer (SPVM).

“I think people should be reassured to see that zero risk is hard to get to. However, it shows that the efforts are there and we’re going to do everything we can in order to make sure that the kids are safe.”

In the span of four weeks, amid back-to-school this year, the SPVM handed out more than 8,000 tickets to motorists for not respecting road safety rules in school zones.

“Unfortunately, education and prevention works with the majority of people, but there’s always a minority of people who need to be reminded with repression. And it’s a role that the SPVM has to do,” said Durocher.

He explained that those who get tickets become “ambassadors of road safety,” because they’re going to tell people they got a ticket. “And therefore it’s going to get the message out there that we take the safety of our kids at heart.”

Guilbault emphasized the need for preventative measures like signage, crosswalks, and crossing guards. She tabled an action plan about a year and a half ago bringing speed limits down in school zones to 30 kilometers per hour and with a plan to add 250 more photo radars in school zones by 2026.

“One of the most important measures is the obligatory mandatory 30 kilometers in every school zone. So this is a major evolution,” explained Guilbault.