An 84-year-old woman has died after she and her husband were struck by a truck on Monday while crossing a street in Town of Mount Royal.
Montreal police confirmed the woman’s passing on Tuesday morning. Her 84-year-old husband remained in hospital in critical condition.
The fatal collision happened at the intersection of Chemin Clyde and Dresden Avenue at 11:20 a.m.
Witnesses told police on Monday that the driver of the truck was heading north on Clyde and attempted to make a left-hand turn onto Dresden when the couple was struck.
The public affairs department of the Town of Mount Royal issued a press release on Monday expressing concern for the victims and their families.
The release also states that the vehicle involved in the fatal collision was a tow truck that is part of its fleet.
Both the driver of the truck and another employee who witnessed the incident were treated for shock.
City officials explained that the tow truck driver had been called in to assist after another city vehicle broke down on a municipal street.
The intersection where the crash took place, is located “just a stone’s throw from the municipal workshops,” the release reads.
While the police investigation was still underway on Tuesday, the Town of Mount Royal noted that pedestrian lights at the intersection have been in place since 2022.
Prioritizing pedestrian safety
Meanwhile, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante told reporters Tuesday that cities and municipalities, not just on the Island of Montreal but across the province, need to prioritize the safety of the most vulnerable road users.
“How said is that,” she said, referring the two victims in Town of Mount Royal who were just out for a walk when they struck.
“We need to put the security of pedestrians … at the top of the list when it comes to our roads and how we use are streets,” Plante said.
She said that while the City of Montreal is leading the way, others need to shift away from the mindset of prioritizing fluidity of traffic over the safety of the most vulnerable.
In a report released in June, Quebec’s automobile insurance board (SAAQ) noted the number of pedestrian deaths in the province had increased in the last year.
In 2022, 79 pedestrians were killed, compared with 24 in 2021. The SAAQ said it represents a 22.7 per cent increase compared with the five-year average of 64 from 2017 to 2021.
Plante pointed to several initiatives implemented in the city that help make streets safer including jutting sidewalks at intersections, wider sidewalks, adding bike paths, radars, and speed bumps to name a few.
Jutting sidewalks or sidewalks that extend out at intersections help shorten the distance pedestrians need to cover to get across the street and can also serve to slow down traffic.
Piétons Québec, an advocacy group for the rights of pedestrians, agreed with Plante.
“We need as a society to question what is our priority. Is it speed or is it safety for everyone that’s walking in the city?” said spokesperson Véronique Fournier.
Fournier also said that we need to be looking at the issue of trucks themselves.
“In 2022 is the worst road safety record for pedestrians in the last 15 years,” she said.
“And unfortunately some of the causes of this is trucks are in dense areas and they’re involved in 20 per cent of collisions where there’s a death of a pedestrian so it’s a major issue.”
Safety features like bigger windows or guardrails that prevent people from slipping under the wheels could improve safety.
“We have to rethink the design of big trucks in the cities,” Fournier said. “There’s ways to redesign trucks to make sure they don’t have blind spots and they can see the people surrounding them in the city.”
— with files from Global News’ Felicia Parrillo
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