Drivers are blowing gaskets

Also on Coderre’s wish list is a 40 km/h limit for major roads on the outskirts of the city, with some at 50 km/h. Plus, key industrial and all major roads into the city (such as Sherbrooke St. and René-Lévesque Blvd.) would set top speeds at 40 km/h, save for Notre-Dame St., where the limit would be 60 km/h. Which, in this city, means that Notre-Dame St. would be the equivalent of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for motorists with their pedals forever on the metal. (Of course, that assumes an orange-cone-free Notre-Dame St. Ha!)

While some boroughs have already implemented these regulations, Coderre hopes all will go along with the plan.

By Coderre standards, the $2-million budget for the changes even seems like a bargain — probably because it’s not under the billion-dollar 375th B-Day umbrella.

Municipal politicians of all stripes mostly seem to favour the proposed measures, although my buddy Aaron Rand wonders if cyclists will be ticketed for going more than 30 km/h as they pass cars in the process.

But while the mayor is keen to avoid mayhem on our streets, perhaps he should concern himself with some other major traffic issues.

Take de Maisonneuve Blvd. Please! Peaceful co-existence between drivers, cyclists and pedestrians is a pipe dream at best. The problem is that it’s oneway for motorists but not for the others.

One of the most dangerous spots on the boulevard is at the Fort St. intersection, where long lines of cars wait to turn left — because it is a feeder road for Highway 20 heading west. Cyclists on the bike path cross at their own peril because irate motorists seem more concerned about making the light than watching out for the two-wheelers coming in both directions. At least pedestrians can cross on the north side of the street.

While walking along the north side of the street, I have witnessed at least a half-dozen collisions — some quite serious — between vehicles and cyclists, and also vehicles and other vehicles.

The situation is also tense along de Maisonneuve at other downtown intersections. The bottom line is that motorists, cyclists and pedestrians need to have eyes in the back of their heads as well.

The extra set of eyes would certainly help with confusing traffic signals.

All of which brings up the question that has baffled road scholars for eons: Who has the right of way?

Unless there are pedestrianonly or cyclist-only light crossings at intersections, there appears to be much ambiguity as to whether motorists or cyclists have the right of way at green lights and stop signs in situations regarding left or right turns.

Not only have collisions ensued as a consequence, but also brawls between ever-warring cyclist and motorist parties.

“The general rule of thumb in road safety is very much like the food chain with the motorist on top of the chain and the pedestrian at the bottom. So the motorist should yield the right of way to the cyclist and the cyclist yields the right of way to the pedestrian,” says a cop acquaintance — most familiar with road safety — who seeks to remain anonymous for speaking without permission from his superiors.

But this rule clearly applies in a perfect world. So perhaps a compulsory traffic seminar for all parties is in order.

Next we come to the oftignored issue of traffic-light synchronization — or the lack thereof.

Two examples here:

The lights on Rockland Rd., from Jean Talon to the top, will remain green for motorists who maintain a speed of 40 km/h. Motorists have become aware, so they realize there is no point in exceeding that limit.

Then there is Sherbrooke St. in Westmount, where the lights appear to be de-synchronized by day, resulting in too many wouldbe F1 drivers trying to catch lights at dizzying speeds.

Not only does synchronization make sense from a road-safety point of view, but also, as many have noted, from an environmental one as well — with reduction of needless idling and gas consumption.

But there is, of course, one dilemma that appears unavoidable in this city, and that is constant road work resulting in detours and irritability that would register on the Richter scale.

Yes, Sherbrooke St. is open for now. Same, too, for Pine Ave. But such all-important roads like Côte-des-Neiges and Atwater and Notre-Dame are still clogged. The epidemic has even hit St-Jean Blvd. in the West Island.

And so when the driving gets bad, the drivers get antsy and take risks and blow gaskets other than those on their vehicles.

Montreal’s unofficial traffic guru Rick Leckner has been monitoring our roads for more than 40 years and thought he had seen it all.

He hadn’t.

“Since the construction has heated up over the last two years, I have never seen such bad driving in the city. People have just lost it. I’ve never heard horn-honking like this before,” Leckner says.

“People are doing anything to avoid traffic. It’s like the Wild West. Forget yellow lights; motorists are going through red lights. It’s sadly evident that no proper planning has been done in advance for many of our road issues.”

The reality is that something has to give.

“We have to accept the fact that cycling has exploded in the city — with almost 600,000 cyclists here now. The city is trying to marry bike paths with the road network, and it’s been like a real circus at times,” Leckner says.

But Leckner has an interesting solution: a “congestion tax,” which has been in force in several European cities for years. “Drivers who insist on driving into the downtown core, within certain hours, particularly during rush hours, will have to pay for that privilege with the equivalent of a toll, collected through blue-tooth-type technology — not a toll booth,” Leckner says.

“I’m not convinced people are ever going to give up their cars coming into the city centre, unless they get a real serious obstacle thrown their way. That’s the only thing, I think, that has a chance to dissuade them. It couldn’t hurt.”

On the bright side, Leckner figures that once the dust settles on the Turcot and new Champlain Bridge construction, the situation will be better by 2020.

Provided thermonuclear war hasn’t broken out between cyclists and motorists.