Calls for better lighting at Parc Avenue intersection where 11-year-old boy was fatally struck

A stuffed animal, a red paper heart and several bouquets of flowers adorned a street pole in Montreal’s Mile-End on Wednesday – at the intersection where an 11-year-old boy died after being hit by a truck two days earlier.

Jacob Austerlitz’s death, after he was struck by a grocery delivery truck around 7:30 p.m. at the intersection of Bernard Street and Parc Avenue, has left the community shaken.

“For the community, it’s a tragedy beyond words. And the community is in mourning,” said Mayer Feig, activist and volunteer paramedic for the Hassidic Jewish Community in the Mile-End. “We’re a very tight-knit, close community. And it’s very sad.”

Feig rushed to the scene after receiving a phone call. When he arrived, Urgences-santé was lifting the stretcher towards the ambulance.

“From what I’ve seen and from my almost 30 years as a volunteer paramedic, I don’t think anything would have made a difference,” he said. “I think he was really critically injured on impact and unfortunately… fortunately for him that he didn’t suffer. But it’s just tragic.”

Among the flowers left at the street-side memorial was a card reading: “For Jacob. Our hearts are broken.”

Montreal police say the driver was heading south on Parc and turned right on Bernard when the boy, who was trying to cross to meet up with friends to buy a lunch box for school, was hit.

The 28-year-old driver was not injured and he remained on the scene for questioning.

“Pedestrians, cyclists, cars, trucks, everybody needs to take a step back a little bit and just think that t’s shared by many different kinds of people, many different modes of traffic, and be a bit more vigilant,” said Feig. “Everybody needs to be a bit more vigilant.”

The community is demanding better road safety for pedestrians, saying it’s a dangerous intersection with poor lighting.

“There have been a lot of accidents here at this corner,” Feig told CityNews. “It’s a large road that goes towards downtown and there are a lot of trucks and cars passing here. So I don’t see any specific reason that it would be unsafe, but again, what people have told me at night, the lighting is not good.

“Two people told me yesterday that actually that same night that it happened, they were driving their cars, they parked their cars and decided to walk because they couldn’t really see where they were going.”

Montreal police say 16 pedestrians have been killed on the island this year. The latest was a 38-year-old man who was fatally struck by a pick-up truck, which had a trailer behind it, as it was leaving a parking lot in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve on Tuesday.

“When there are collisions and you analyze them, there could be various causes,” said André Durocher, director of community relations and road safety at CAA-Québec. “In road safety, there’s what we call the three Es: Enforcement, Education, and Engineering. So yes, there are areas that could be more at risk because of the configuration. Sometimes the way vision is blocked, maybe the intersection, the way it’s conceived. But that, you know, you cannot know overnight.

“I do agree that sometimes improvements can be made with regard to the configuration of certain areas. But in the end, there are dangerous intersections sometimes, but there’s also a lot of dangerous behaviors.

“I like the way we’re doing it. I think talking about pedestrian safety and road safety in general, particularly pedestrians in the months of September, October, and November, because of the change, is important. I think it hits everyday people. I mean, it could be anyone.”

A City of Montreal spokesperson tells CityNews their hearts are with the boy’s family.

“The safety of all users, and particularly the most vulnerable, is a priority and this is the reason why we have adhered to Vision Zéro since 2016” the city said in an emailed statement.

The spokesperson says it’s important to let the SPVM investigate the collision.

“The City of Montreal’s fatal post-collision analysis team, whose mandate is in particular to identify whether infrastructure elements may have contributed to the collision, will also carry out its work and recommend, if necessary, corrective actions allowing to reduce the risks of a similar event occurring in the same location.”