Road sign project yields award for Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield was awarded the Prix Sécurité routière at the Gala des grands prix d’excellence en transport on June 18.
Winners in 10 categories were honoured by the Association québécoise du transport et de routes. Beaconsfield won for its yield sign project. During a 2012 pilot project, the city replaced stop signs with yield signs at nine intersections with low-volume traffic. A 2013 study commissioned by Beaconsfield showed that drivers drove more cautiously and reduced their speed at the intersections with yield signs.
Those results aligned with other North American studies.
“I’m extremely pleased,” project manager André Gervais said of the win. “It showed that our peers endorsed the project. It is a project that can have an impact locally and throughout the province.”
Gervais said similar projects have been in place in other parts of Canada and the United States for some time, but Quebec has been slow to come on board.
“I was skeptical at the beginning,” Gervais said. “But after I read all the literature out there and after seeing the success of the pilot project I was convinced.”
Not all parents, especially those with young children, are convinced and continue to voice concern about the project.
Gervais acknowledged the rambunctious reputation drivers in this province have, but said the yield signs were proving to tame even the Quebec driver — and on two levels.
“In general, when faced with a stop sign, Quebecers tend to slow down, not really stop,” he said.
“But when faced with a yield sign, the behaviour changes. Drivers take time to look in both directions for vehicles or people, before advancing.
“And, after that, when a driver comes face to face with a stop sign, it suddenly carries more weight. It enforces behaviour to actually come to a full stop.”
The project will move into its next phase with yield signs replacing stops signs at 20 more Beaconsfield intersections by June 30.
Eventually, 73 of the city’s 490 intersections will have yield signs in place.