Montreal City Weblog

Kate 09:11 on 2019-12-16 Permalink Reply  

• Tim S. 09:39 on 2019-12-16 Permalink

  Good for them!

• Tim S. 09:43 on 2019-12-16 Permalink

  From the CBC version: Alex “Norris said he’s for stiffer fines, but wouldn’t go so far as to issue a directive to police to step up enforcement.”
  Sigh. It doesn’t matter what the fine is if nobody ever receives it.

• Max 10:10 on 2019-12-16 Permalink

  Exactly, Tim. All the terrible driving in this town can be attributed directly to those lazy white fucks who would rather sit in the their cars and play with their phones than actually enforce the traffic laws. Walking downtown pretty much daily I see 20 or 30 traffic violations an hour. I can’t remember the last time I saw someone getting a ticket. I despise the police.

• thomas 10:18 on 2019-12-16 Permalink

  Why not set up camera systems at all pedestrian crossings?

• qatzelok 10:28 on 2019-12-16 Permalink

  Street design has to change because there aren’t enough police to enforce traffic laws. When drivers complain about “losing a lane” when a street is redesigned (to become a “complete street” for all, this is because they know this will slow them down (to a much safer speed).

• mare 10:34 on 2019-12-16 Permalink

  Even if they are given fines, nothing will happen. The driving exams never thought that the roads are shared with bikes and pedestrians because in most of Quebec they simply weren’t there. Being a courteous and defensive driver doesn’t seem to be part of the curriculum either.

  Re-education of people is very hard however many PSAs you trow at it, and motorists are a self-entitled bunch. The evolution of cars doesn’t help; they insulate you completely from the outside world with their excellent soundproofing, stereo systems and distractions like navigation screens and (even hands free) calls.

  I read somewhere that traffic camera systems need to be granted a special exception of the law, that’s why there are so few and they’re announced ahead. More signs in our streets in front of pedestrian crossings will cause even more distractions. It doesn’t help that equipment is complicated because our license plates are only on the rear of cars so law enforcement need two photos taken at once. One for the registration and one with a picture of the driver for identification and the demerit points. Otherwise the cases get contested and thrown out in court. This also means police officers need to stop cars to write a ticket, just an observation from the back of the offending car is not enough. That takes a lot of time, you create pursuit-like situations, and isn’t possible on every street without disrupting the traffic flow a lot.

• Spi 11:27 on 2019-12-16 Permalink

  I agree with qatzelok, the street design is fundamentally flawed, painted crosswalks that fade within days of being put down and then aren’t repainted until fall the following year just to be scraped away by snowplows come winter. Intersections that still offer nearly no visibility of the sidewalk until you’re pretty much blocking the crosswalk (especially the case if there’s an SUV or work truck parked at the corner)

  Also in an effort to make sidewalks more pleasant, we’ve accidentally introduced more complications. As a driver, you’re taught to use your peripheral vision to scan for pedestrians, but all you see is a wall of parked cars and when there aren’t parked cars it’s parking meters, trees, flower pots, bicycle racks or street terraces (all of which are great) but they create a tunnel effect which makes you focus even more on the bumper to bumper traffic you’re most likely in rather than the surroundings.

  All the fatal pedestrian/cyclist with car collisions that come to mind were at intersections and poor visibility had a major role in it, you can reduce the speed limit to 40-30km/h all you want but no one was turning at that speed anyways but I guess replacing speed-limit signs is a cheap way of pretending to be doing something instead of actually changing the design.

  I think SUV’s parked near intersections (by reducing visibility for drivers and pedestrians) are more dangerous than when they are rolling on the streets, I’d ban SUV (or any car over x height) parking within 10-15 meters of an intersection.

• Joey 11:42 on 2019-12-16 Permalink

  Too bad CBC didn’t push Norris a bit more. I can’t believe he really thinks the problem is entirely low fines and not at all weak enforcement. I can only assume he is unwilling to push the cops to do more because they won’t, and he’ll look toothless.

• Clément 13:24 on 2019-12-16 Permalink

  @Joey: I remember reaching out to Peter McQueen (also PM) a few years ago about having the police simply enforcing existing fines.

  I felt, from his lukewarm response, that Projet Montreal wasn’t too keen on forcing the SPVM to do anything. The SPVM seems to do its own thing (like ticketing cyclists for not having pedal reflectors) regardless of the policies and positions of whoever is in charge at city hall.

• Alex Norris 19:51 on 2019-12-16 Permalink

  The CBC report paraphrases my answer in a way that doesn’t really reflect my position on this issue. While it’s true that I’m not in the habit of ”issuing directives” to the SPVM, our administration did discuss the issue the police force today and the SPVM has assured us that they intend to step up enforcement of the rules and that they will make respect for pedestrian crosswalks a law-enforcement priority next year as well. That having been said, better enforcement – while essential – is only part of the solution. We need meaningful fines as well – and demerit points – for motorists who ignore pedestrians’ right-of-way at crosswalks. And we need to make physical changes (with better signage, for example, and changes to the layout of intersections). The former issue requires changes to the Code de la sécurité routière; the mayor today expressed her support for these demands. The latter (physical changes to intersections) is our responsibility at the borough and central-city level. We’ve been working hard to change the layout of intersections throughout our borough ever since we took power on the Plateau but there obviously remains a great deal more to be done.

• Kate 20:57 on 2019-12-16 Permalink

  Thank you, Alex Norris.

• Tim S. 22:33 on 2019-12-16 Permalink

  I appreciate the clarification and attention to the issue.

• Joey 09:19 on 2019-12-17 Permalink

  I appreciate the clarification. I note that, with regard to the “physical changes,” the city *just* completely redesigned the intersection and surrounding area where the three-year-old was hit (and where the protest was located). Presumably the city’s urbanist experts did the best they could…

  Anyone else think more law enforcement of the rules will translate to more tickets for jaywalkers?

• Chris 10:58 on 2019-12-17 Permalink

  Max, so the motorist-pedestrian conflict is now a racial thing? What’s up with the “white fucks” slur?

• MarcG 12:14 on 2019-12-17 Permalink

  He was referring to the police and although it’s probably a typo I don’t think it’s all that far off base.

• Chris 12:22 on 2019-12-17 Permalink

  A typo?! What is it you think he meant to type instead of ‘white fucks’? But we can let him speak for himself.

• Blork 12:44 on 2019-12-17 Permalink

  Yeah, I did a double-take on the “white fucks” thing too but then I realized he was referring to the cops, who are overwhelmingly white so that can be seen as a commentary on policing, not traffic, but I still think it was uncalled for.