Montreal pedestrians: Canada’s biggest ticket magnets

MONTREAL – Montreal police started cracking down on pedestrian infractions three years ago and their work is paying off.

Last year, police handed out nearly 23,000 tickets to pedestrians for everything from jaywalking to walking against a red light or not using the sidewalk.

That’s a big difference compared to Toronto where officers handed out 9,000 tickets – but there are a million more residents in Hogtown.

Not to mention in Quebec City, where 890 were handed out and Calgary that had 608 tickets.

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At the bottom of the list was Vancouver, with only 84 tickets in 2014.

Police said they’re not surprised that there are more tickets in Montreal because of the city’s driving culture.

“If you’ve been traveling in Canada, you see it’s different,” said Ian Lafrenière, with Montreal police.

“In Ontario, if you show up at the intersection, people will stop for you as a pedestrian.”

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Fifty-five per cent of fatal accidents in the city involve a pedestrian.

Although police have been handing out tickets to pedestrian, Lafrenière said the blame is on both sides.

“We’re losing too many pedestrians because of the way they’re crossing, but also from the bad driving from drivers,” he told Global News.

“It’s on both sides. We have to work on pedestrians and work on drivers.”

READ MORE: Residents criticizing proposed hike in jaywalking fine to $700

Friday was busy on the city’s sidewalks, as exams and Christmas shopping season ramp up.

Some pedestrians downtown said they’ve been caught – and they learned their lesson.

“It sucks to get it, to be honest,” said one woman.

“I was disappointed, but I think it’s going to teach people to cross at the lights.”

“It’s not safe because sometimes the drivers can’t see you and they will hit you. I will never do it,” said another.

Getting caught also doesn’t come cheap with each ticket costing $48.

Multiply that by the over 22,000 tickets the City of Montreal has already handed out this year and that’s more than $1 million in fines to pedestrians.