Improved signage urged at Parc Ave. crosswalk
In the wake of the death of a 62-year-old jogger, a coroner is recommending better signage to warn motorists of the heavily used crosswalk leading to Mount Royal.
Conceptión Cortacans was struck as she jogged through the crosswalk on Parc Ave. leading from the Jeanne-Mance Park side of the street to the area near the Sir Georges-Étienne Cartier statue on Jan 7, 2016. A northbound motorist on Parc Ave. went through the intersection against a red light and struck Cortacans with his car, sending her through the air, landing at a distance of about four metres away.
She was taken unconscious to Montreal General Hospital with extensive fractures and cranial bleeding. She died of her injuries on Jan. 13. In her report on the death, coroner Stéphanie Gamache said the driver of the vehicle was temporarily distracted by the GPS application on his mobile phone and did not see the red light at the intersection. The driver said he was not familiar with the area, and was using his GPS application to find his way. He was heading to a location farther north on Parc Ave.
“There was no trace of braking on the ground, so it’s impossible to know at what speed the vehicle was driving,” Gamache said in her report, adding that witnesses estimated the car was travelling between 50 and 70 kilometres per hour.
Road tests by police investigators showed no problem with the car’s braking system, and the phone’s GPS application was also still activated after the crash, with the phone sitting in the car’s central console.
A spokesperson for Montreal police said the driver was issued a traffic ticket for dangerous driving — a violation of Quebec’s Highway Safety Code that could lead to a $1,000 fine.
Gamache said she believed the death was an accident. Cortacans was not visible from the street because of a bus that was parked at the stop just behind the crosswalk, and because of that bus, she also didn’t see the car.
Gamache said she approached the Société de transport de Montréal and asked if the bus stop could be moved to improve visibility, but was told that moving the stop would further endanger the public.
Amélie Régis, a spokesperson for the STM explained to the Montreal Gazette that moving the bus stop away from the crosswalk would encourage pedestrians to cross in front or behind the bus, which would make it more dangerous for pedestrians.
Gamache said although the traffic lights are visible, it can be confusing for motorists not familiar with the area, because the lights are in the middle of two intersections.
Her report had but one recommendation: that the city install better signage to warn approaching motorists on both sides of the street that there is a pedestrian crosswalk.