New Camillien-Houde setup praised by city
Apparently the city’s happy that the new configuration on the Camillien-Houde is slowing drivers down and CBC finds cyclists and one driver who approve also.
Speaking of cycling, some SPVM stations are trying out a program offering cyclists caught in a road infraction an hour of traffic school instead of a ticket. Given that cycling tickets now set the rider back $128 it may be an attractive option. However, an expert cited here points out that it probably won’t improve accident numbers, as most traffic problems are caused by motor vehicle drivers, not cyclists or pedestrians.
Ian 16:27 on 2019-07-09 Permalink
While that may be, a person riding the wrong way down the street at night, no hands, texting, with no lights or helmet (as I have seen with my own eyes on several occasions) is at greater risk of being in a serious accident than someone who follows even the most basic rules of biking safety. If they can claim they didn’t know that was not a good idea to wear headphones while biking and and get out of a ticket by doing a brief safety course they also get to keep 128 bucks so it’s win-win.
Yes, I get it, most serious accidents involve motorized vehicles, but I still teach my kids to look both ways when they cross the street or in front of an alley, to wear helmets when they ride bikes, etc. as it would be stupid not to.
It’s also worth noting that when Manaugh says”La majorité des accidents sont causés par les automobilistes” that’s a bit of poor logic – by default a motorist will always be held responsible for an accident except under really egregious circumstances as they are licensed vehicle operators and as such have more legal responsibility. Also worth noting a very large number of the fatalities we’ve been reading about over the last few years involve trucks, of which there are far too many in the city, but that’s another issue altogether.