A citizen filmed in one hour no less than 44 motorists making a forbidden left turn at the corner of rue de Rouen and rue Parthenais, in the borough of Ville-Marie. This is where, five months earlier, little Mariia Legenkovska lost her life on her way to school.
“This street corner is supposed to be a sanctuary”, denounces Nicolas Marcotte. A resident of Rosemont, this 41-year-old man drives around this area of Ville-Marie every day to drive his child to school.
Whether he is on a bicycle or in a car, he observes that automobile crime is on the increase. On Thursday, he decided to take the bull by the horns by filming motorists at the intersection where the young Ukrainian had been hit by a motorist last December.
At the corner of rue de Rouen and rue Parthenais, it is now forbidden to turn left from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. In one hour, Mr. Marcotte recorded 44 infractions.
“Motorists are aware that they’re not supposed to, so they do it faster and more dangerously,” he observes.
In his view, this is no longer an individual problem, but a structural one.
“When 44 people are delinquent in one hour, we can say that it is no longer a safe place,” he says. My goal would be for politicians to recognize that there is currently a problem in the Centre-Sud with automobile crime. »
Called to comment on the video filmed by Mr. Marcotte, the City of Montreal indicated by email that a request for surveillance was going to be made to the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM).
“The safety of all users, and more particularly of the most vulnerable such as pedestrians and cyclists, is a priority for the City of Montreal,” says Hugo Bourgoin, Public Relations Officer.
He took the opportunity to recall that the borough of Ville-Marie had announced in mid-April a series of measures to calm traffic in the area in 2023. Thus, rue Larivière will be closed to traffic between avenue De Lorimier and rue Parthenais. Three other streets will become one-way or change direction.
A total of 110 new speed bumps should also be installed, and specific facilities are planned around the schools.
As for the corner of rue Parthenais and rue de Rouen, a permanent projection must be set up there, recalls Mr. Bourgoin.
For Nicolas Marcotte, these welcome changes will have to be accompanied by awareness-raising measures and increased monitoring.
“There comes a point where I feel like there is a loss of control in terms of auto crime in the industry,” he fears. He even observed people driving in the wrong direction to escape the congestion on Sherbrooke Street.
“It is our quality of life that is completely ruined because of poor choices for the repair of a tunnel 10 kilometers from our home! “, protests Mr. Marcotte.
