2023-09-30 09:00:00
Their names were Lucie, Rakaa, Albina, Efthinios, Monique, Pauline, Ruzene-Rose, Auréa, Giuseppe, Maria, Jean-Paul, Louise, Tkatcheva, Linda, Gabriel, Dragica, Monique, Fleurette, Galina, Howard, Pauline again , Christine, Guylaine, Jolly, Huguette, Jimmy, Béatrice, Claudette, Alasi, Bruno, Daniel, Shahin, Lise, Wai-Sim, Marie, Claudette again, Margarita, Gagandeep, Dilan…
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Since 2000, at least 39 pedestrians have been killed in the greater Montreal area by a truck after being in a blind spot in the front or on the right side of the hood, according to our analysis of more than 500 fatal collisions. This is more than the number of walkers hit by drunk drivers during this period.
Almost 20 years ago, coroner Claude Paquin made a recommendation “in order to prevent deaths” after an 81-year-old woman was run over by a semi-trailer truck at the corner of Hochelaga and Dickson: “include in the Highway Safety Code a regulation requiring owners of conventional heavy vehicles with a prominent front to equip themselves with a mirror[s] on both front corners, in order to see directly in front of the vehicle.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, THE PRESS
In Canada, solar buses, unlike other heavy vehicles, must be equipped with rear view mirrors.
Dr. Paquin then recommended the imposition of what we now call “front view mirrors”, mandatory on school buses across Canada and covered by regulations in the State of New York and in the Union European. Since this report, published in 2004, at least 34 pedestrians have been crushed or struck to death by a heavy truck on the island of Montreal after being erased, near the hood, from the vision of a driving trucker. at low speed, reveals a review carried out by The Press.
Among the 39 deaths since 2000, 31 women and 23 people aged over 65. This over-representation is easily explained: from the driver’s seat, short people are more likely to be hidden by the engine block of trucks.
This type of disastrous case occurs in an urban environment when a pedestrian crosses at a green light while a truck driver turns right or when a walker walks or stops directly in front of a heavy vehicle.
IMAGE TAKEN FROM AN MTQ DOCUMENT
Last December, everything indicates that it was this second situation which cost the life of Gagandeep Kaur, a 29-year-old student from Punjab. Three years ago, she left India hoping to offer a better life to her husband and 6-year-old daughter who remained there. She would never see them again.
Like every weekday morning, the educator crossed the four lanes of Place du Commerce to get to her job, a daycare in L’Île-des-Sœurs. The driver of a loading truck made his obligatory stop, then left without seeing the young woman, who died instantly. The investigation into the exact circumstances of the tragedy has not been completed.
PHOTO TAKEN FROM A GOFUNDME PAGE
Gagandeep Kaur
In two decades, no less than 13 different coroners have identified the absence of front mirrors among the factors which may have contributed to a fatal collision between a truck and a pedestrian in the metropolis. Five of them made formal recommendations to the Ministry of Transport of Quebec (MTQ), the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), the City of Montreal or Transport Canada. In vain.
If the trend continues, on average one or two pedestrians will continue to die each year on the streets of Montreal – at least in part – because of a correctable blind spot. For comparison, Health Canada banned the sale of corded blinds starting in 2022 because they were responsible for the death of one child on average each year across the country.
“I consider that front view mirrors should be mandatory on all trucks circulating in the city,” says Julien Dufort, engineer and member of the road safety team at Polytechnique Montréal.
Under the impetus of a working group established by the MTQ, Mr. Dufort and his colleague Érick Abraham have been studying frontal mirrors since 2010. That year, coroner Luc Malouin filed a report on four pedestrian deaths linked to snow removal operations occurred in less than two months in the metropolis, in 2008 and 2009.
Few people realize how many blind spots a heavy vehicle driver has and how entire areas all around his truck are invisible to him.
Coroner Luc Malouin, in his report on deaths occurring in 2008 and 2009
Although our review focuses specifically on the territory covered by the Police Department of the City of Montreal, all urban environments are concerned. Coroners recommended the addition of front view mirrors after fatal collisions in the Gaspé village of Hope Town (2008), in Rimouski (2010), in Victoriaville (2019) – a 7-year-old girl who was on her way to her day camp was hit by a delivery truck – or very recently in Saint-Hyacinthe, in a report published last June.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
In 2009, fatal accidents involving snow removal trucks highlighted blind spots at the front and right side of heavy vehicles.
It should be noted that other vulnerable users, such as cyclists and motorcyclists, are likely to disappear from the drivers’ field of vision when they are in the front of trucks. Some pickup truck models have a similar blind spot.
In 2017 and 2018, the Quebec working group took its study further, by conducting tests in “real operating conditions” with trucks from the City of Montreal and the MTQ. Conclusion: “The installation of two front mirrors constitutes an effective, simple and inexpensive solution to improve visibility in these two blind spot areas [en avant et sur le côté droit du camion] problematic. »
It is a solution that is not very expensive and we have found an adjustment method that is better suited than that used by school buses to cover the problematic angles of trucks.
Sébastien Bédard, engineer at MTQ and one of the instigators of the work on front view mirrors
The only downsides: the mirrors lose their effectiveness during precipitation and in dark weather. According to our compilation in Montreal, 34 of the 39 fatal collisions in the blind zone in question took place in broad daylight.
“I see no disadvantage in installing front view mirrors in urban areas,” emphasizes researcher Julien Dufort. Any heavy vehicle operator can do this, install mirrors. We go back to pre-pandemic times, but each mirror cost around $150-180 [lors du projet pilote]. »
Furthermore, it was “possible to correctly install and adjust virtually all mirrors, on all types of hoods,” the researchers noted.
Despite conclusive results, the committee which mandated Polytechnique to study the front view mirrors, which included the SAAQ and the City of Montreal, preferred to opt for voluntary implementation rather than an obligation. For what ?
The City of Montreal does not have jurisdiction over truck equipment, but it requires, in calls for tenders, that its suppliers be equipped with front mirrors.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
City of Montreal truck equipped with a front view mirror
Since 2019, the SAAQ, responsible for the requirements for vehicles in circulation, has stuck to a recommendation. It has produced a best practice guide for the installation of front view mirrors and promotes them to businesses. These mirrors remain an extremely rare tool on the island of Montreal, according to observations made by The Press for several weeks.
Since 2019, widespread implementation in Montreal could theoretically have helped avoid the deaths of eight pedestrians, according to our analysis of the circumstances of fatal accidents.
“To be able to require additional equipment, it requires harmonization and we must discuss with our counterparts in Canada and the United States,” explains Jonathan Labonté, engineer in the Vehicle Safety division of the SAAQ. For example, if a regulation targets trucks from Quebec, vehicles from Ontario could circulate in Montreal without front view mirrors; that would create inequity. »
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
“In my opinion, the installation of rear-view mirrors could help avoid collisions with pedestrians and thus improve their safety,” wrote a coroner after the death of a pedestrian in the borough of Saint-Léonard, on 13 November 2019.
“It’s easy to say: ‘Let’s make a regulation,’ but when it comes to application and the burden of control, it’s more complicated,” notes Sébastien Bédard of the MTQ. That’s why we wanted to go there, at the beginning, on a voluntary basis. »
Questioned in relation to our findings, Sophie Mauzerolle, responsible for transport on the executive committee of the City of Montreal, indicates by email that “stricter regulations requiring all vehicles circulating in the metropolis to be equipped with front view mirrors would merit ‘be studied with others [ordres] of government.”
It cannot be ruled out that the SAAQ’s position will evolve, underlines spokesperson Gino Desrosiers.
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