Pierrefonds-Roxboro promises changes to Lalande Boulevard following fatal crash

In a special council meeting on Monday, Pierrefonds-Roxboro council members will vote to implement traffic-calming measures recommended by the borough’s traffic committee to help slow vehicles on Lalande Boulevard, where 15-year-old Anjelica John was struck and killed by a car last month.

“Council will approve or not the different measures that we have in place that will start to be implemented — if everything goes well on Monday — as of Wednesday next week,” said Pierrefonds-Roxboro Borough Mayor Jim Beis.

Lalande Boulevard is supposed to be a scenic route, and despite the 40 kilometre speed-limit, residents who live nearby say it’s a thoroughfare for cars to avoid Gouin Boulevard.

Georges Roy who has lived on the boulevard for 30 years said the street that is “like a speedway” is not a new problem.

“We did a lot of complaints to the city, many times but obviously there’s not that much that’s happening,” he said.

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Fifty other residents signed a petition in June 2020 asking for the immediate installation of speed bumps on Rose Street and Lalande Boulevard. Concerned signee’s wanted to ensure the safety of the family friendly neighbourhood with three schools nearby.

“We know that there’s a lot of streets around here that although they are supposed to drive 40 or even 30 kilometres around the schools they don’t necessarily respect the speed limits,” said signatoree Nancy Hanna who lives on Rose Street.

Since the deadly crash on June 17, Montreal police report giving a total of 24 tickets for various violations of the Highway Safety Code on Lalande Boulevard, four were handed to drivers travelling over 40 kilometres an hour.

Beis will not discuss what the measures are but says they are short term solutions before they install permanent solutions. As for why it has taken almost a month after the fatal crash to take action Beis said “it’s not something that can happen overnight.”

Residents who have waited years and even decades are looking forward to seeing the city’s solution to make the dangerous street safer.