In an effort to help familiarize Montrealers with the struggles of heavy vehicle operators navigating Quebec roadways, road safety experts for the SAAQ gave Ahuntsic-Cartierville residents and passersby the chance to climb behind the wheel of a 6-wheel truck on Saturday.
“This activity is to show to people the blind spot of a heavy truck,” Marie-Josee Michaud, spokesperson for the SAAQ’s road safety division, told Global News.
“There have been some accidents with pedestrians or cyclists, and often it’s because they were in the blind spot of the heavy truck.”
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This public demonstration comes just days after a 30-year-old cyclist was pronounced dead after being hit by a truck in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie.
According to Michaud, 30 per cent of deaths due to accidents on Quebec’s road have involved cyclists and trucks.
She added the activity is meant to sensitize people to the visibility of truck drivers.
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“People will go in the truck and they will see none of those red carpets. So, they will be aware that in those zones the driver cannot see you.”
In a report made public in 2010, Quebec coroner Luc Malouin established that the most vulnerable place for cyclists and pedestrians is three metres to the right and in front of big trucks and large vehicles.
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Magali Bebonne, who gets around on two wheels and is an advocate for cyclists and their safety with Velo Quebec, said that more needs to be done to protect them.
“When you are being passed by a huge truck you feel so vulnerable – you feel every little movement – every little hole in the street could just lead you to slip under the wheels of a truck, so it feels very uncomfortable. It feels scary,” Bebonne said.
Velo Quebec has already presented a rating system similar to the one applied in London, based on trucks with the worst blind spots will progressively be banned.
A report drawn up by the Commission on transport and public works indicates the city of Montreal will take inspiration from cities such as London, Seattle and New Orleans.
“So, the city of Montreal is supposed to study the feasibility of such a scheme for Montreal as well.”
She said every level of government can and should set higher standards for which trucks are allowed in the city.
“We really need to look at systems and how our streets are being designed, we need to look at how our trucks are designed and ban some of them if they are just too deadly for our cities.”
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