TOWN OF MOUNT ROYAL, QC, Dec. 13, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - The Mayors of the 15 Montreal island suburban cities are asking the Quebec Minister of Transport, Laurent Lessard, to implement right turns on red (RTOR) on the Island, as has been the case everywhere else in the province for the last 13 years.
Speaking on behalf of the 15 Montreal island suburban cities, the Mayors of Montreal East, Beaconsfield and the Town of Mount Royal, Robert Coutu, Georges Bourelle and Philippe Roy, respectively, sent a letter to Minister Lessard this morning to convey this request, which represents the wishes of the majority of residents on the Island of Montreal, both in the Montreal suburban cities and in the Montreal itself.
Last month CROP Inc. carried out an opinion survey that polled 1,000 respondents living on the Island of Montreal. It showed that three out of four people are in favour of implementing RTOR.
"The Island of Montreal, along with New York City, is the only region in Canada and the United States where it is prohibited to make a right turn on a red light. This operation has been allowed in all other parts of Quebec for 13 years, and Ministry of Transport statistics prove that Quebeckers behave in exactly the same way as motorists everywhere else in Canada and the United States when it comes to RTOR. Our citizens are asking that this practice be authorized on the Island of Montreal," explained Mayors Bourelle, Coutu and Roy.
The Mayors added that habits in Quebec have changed over the last four decades and that the road safety record provides proof that drivers' behaviour has improved. Although the number of vehicles on the roads has almost tripled (from 2.2 to 6.3 million) and the number of driving licence holders has nearly doubled (from 2.4 to 5.3 million), there was an 83% drop in road fatalities between 1973 and 2015 (from 2,209 to 361 per year). Right turns on red lights are responsible for 1% of deaths on Quebec's roads – a percentage that exactly matches the situation elsewhere in Canada and the United States, according to Ministry of Transport data.
"Every accidental death is one too many, but these causalities are part of our reality. We agree with our citizens that it is possible to safely implement right turns on red in Montreal, as has been done elsewhere in Quebec, Canada and the United States," concluded the three Mayors, who represent citizens in the eastern, western and central parts of the Island of Montreal.
The 15 Montreal island suburban cities represent the sixth largest population in Quebec (239,937) and the second largest economic power. These municipalities include Baie-D'Urfé, Beaconsfield, Côte-Saint-Luc, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Dorval, Hampstead, Kirkland, Dorval Island, Montreal East, Montreal West, Pointe-Claire, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Senneville, Town of Mount Royal and Westmount.
SOURCE Association of Suburban Municipalities
Information: Astérisme, Public Relations and Communication, Jean Maurice Duddin,, [email protected], 514-771-5777
Share this article