Protests held for pedestrian safety
Protests were held in Montreal and in other Quebec towns Tuesday morning in support of better pedestrian safety. A report released Monday says pedestrian injuries are on the rise (and, like the car theft piece linked below, La Presse starts with the implication that the pandemic is over).
carswell 12:36 on 2023-01-24 Permalink
On Sunday evening, I took the metro from UdeM station to Berri-UQAM. For most of the ride, I was the only mask-wearer I saw. Finally caught a glimpse of a masked middle-aged woman waiting on the blue line platform at Jean-Talon and a couple of elderly women wearing masks got on the train at Rosemont or Laurier. Conclusion: the pandemic isn’t over but most of the populace is over it.
Daniel 12:50 on 2023-01-24 Permalink
I remember reading a piece in 2020 about how the pandemic would end. The takeaway was that there would be a societal end to the pandemic and a medical end and they wouldn’t necessarily coincide. Prescient!
Joey 14:32 on 2023-01-24 Permalink
La Presse isn’t so much announcing that the pandemic is over and done with, but that the rush-hour calm (esp. around schools) associated with the early stage of the pandemic is, most definitely, long gone (“L’accalmie de la pandémie maintenant passée…”). And while commuting is probably below pre-pandemic levels, rush hour is full of cars, and kids haven’t faced an extended school-from-home period for years.
CE 15:07 on 2023-01-24 Permalink
Instead of saying that the pandemic is “over” we should be saying that the restrictions have been lifted, which I think is what the media is getting at when they say that. We’ve come to associate the Covid pandemic with the restrictions more than the illness itself. We’re constantly in the middle of many pandemics; there’s a flu pandemic every year, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has been ongoing since the 80s. Because there are no society-wide restrictions related to these pandemics, we don’t think of them as such. The Covid pandemic may never end (like the flu) but it’s going to take a pretty bad mutation for us to go back feeling like we’re “in a pandemic” again.
Tee Owe 15:55 on 2023-01-24 Permalink
@CE + 1 : I was struggling to compose a response that said the same, now i don’t have to.
Blork 16:40 on 2023-01-24 Permalink
(Off topic of pedestrian safety, but we’re on a roll here.)
This video from Australia is interesting. Sounds like they’re in pretty much the same boat as we are. As the first panelist says “the strategy is to let it run pretty much unfettered in the wider population while trying to protect those who are deemed vulnerable.” (He is not promoting this as a good strategy.)
The takeaways from the discussion are similar to what anyone paying attention has been saying for a while. The way out is not to ignore it, but to (a) keep up with vaccination, (b) keep masking in higher-risk environments even if it isn’t required by law, and (c) renovate our built environments to place a strong emphasis on ventilation.
Until we all get on board with all three of those things, we’ll be stuck in the rut we’ve been in for the past three years.
Video is 12:28 duration and is hosted on Facebook but no logins are needed. It’s from an Australian TV news show.
https://fb.watch/ifZWOYV4qc/
bumper carz 17:47 on 2023-01-24 Permalink
Seems like drivers are more dangerous than ever. Less traffic in the way, and lots of drivers flying high on the combination of anti-depressants and rapid social decline. I hope more driving restrictions will be introduced.
mare 23:35 on 2023-01-24 Permalink
During the early years of the pandemic a lot of people bought cars because they didn’t want air with other people. And now they’re used to having a car and since they already pay for it they continue using it. So more cars, not less.
I was in a car with a stranger from Terrebonne today, and he ignored so many city traffic rules, and was complaining about all the traffic lights and that people were sleeping behind the wheel (they were waiting for pedestrians). He took small side streets because Google told him it was 1 minute faster. It was faster, also because he drove 60 through residential streets. It was scary as fuck but an eye opener.
Cars and driving do strange things to people. To me too, and I finally sold my car today. To him. He’s a scrapper, so it really is one car less on the road in my neighbourhood.
Ian 08:58 on 2023-01-25 Permalink
qatzi, you seem to have a funny notion of what anti-depressants do… if you’re still catching a buzz after the first month or so you should get your prescription adjusted because it sounds like you’re having a reaction.
Kate 11:25 on 2023-01-25 Permalink
mare, that’s so true. Crossing the street, a car stops for you, and the ones behind it start honking. And what it feels like is “Stop being such a pussy! Knock her down and get out of the way!”