Cyclist dies: Mt. Royal road to be studied

The issue of cyclist safety is back in the spotlight following the death Wednesday of a teenager who was struck by a car on Mount Royal.

Clément Ouimet, 18, was cycling down Camillien-Houde Way on Mount Royal Wednesday morning when he was hit by a car that made a sudden U-turn near the Camillien-Houde Belvedere. He was taken to a hospital, where he died later that day.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said the city will review the area on Mount Royal where Ouimet was hit.

Speaking to reporters, Coderre said the area is not among those the city has promised to redesign to make them safer.

“We will analyze it and will make sure that if something has to be done, we’ll do it,” he said of the location where the accident occurred. “One death is one too many, one accident is one too many.”

Projet Montréal Leader Valérie Plante said Camillien-Houde Way should be reviewed, and that groups like Les Amis de la Montagne, the Société de Transport de Montréal and citizen groups should be included in the discussion.

On Twitter, Coderre said that he would create a working group to study whether Camillien-Houde, which becomes Remembrance Rd. at the entrance to the Mount Royal Cemetery, should continue to be a way to cross Mount Royal. He said the group would consist of the city, Vélo Québec, Amis de la montagne, Table concertation du Mont-Royal, Conseil du patrimoine de Montréal and the boroughs involved.

Suzanne Lareau, the president and CEO of cycling advocacy group Vélo Québec, said the city’s plan is a good idea.

“I’m very pleased the mayor put this committee in place,” she said. “It makes no sense, all these cars that aren’t going to Mount Royal but who use the Mount Royal route to traverse it, to go faster than by taking Côte-Ste-Catherine or Avenue des Pins.”

Plante said cyclists feel vulnerable on city streets.

“The sense of insecurity is something that I as a cyclist live with every day,” she said. “It’s an avoidable death, and it’s the fourth cyclist dead in three months. That’s enormous.”

A 44-year-old man died in Montreal North on July 2 after being hit by a truck, a 41-year-old woman was killed in Rosemont on July 14 after being hit by a truck, and a 61-yearold woman died after being struck by a school bus on Sept. 14 near the intersection of Pine and Parc Aves. in downtown Montreal.

Still, the situation for cyclists has improved in Montreal, Lareau said.

“It’s been 40 years that I’ve been cycling in Montreal and it has improved,” she said.

But she said there’s still work to be done.

“We have a problem of cohabitation, cohabitation between pedestrians, cyclists and motorists,” Lareau said. “There’s no one who’s better than the others. There are cyclists who ride very badly, drivers who drive very badly, who don’t follow the rules. There are pedestrians who walk everywhere. The issue is that a driver who doesn’t follow the rules, who doesn’t respect the others is more dangerous than a cyclist or a pedestrian.”

While making city streets safer will involve a variety of measures, ultimately, she said, the number of cars on the island of Montreal can’t continue to increase.

Ouimet was described as an avid cyclist who was a member of the Espoirs Élite Primeau Vélo competitive cycling team. Both his parents had previously worked for Vélo Québec.

“It’s an upsetting day,” Lareau said. “To see a young 18-year-old cyclist die like this on a Montreal street, I don’t accept that.”

In a post on the team’s Facebook page, Édouard Beaudoin said Ouimet’s death left him speechless and feeling destroyed by the idea that one of his teammates died on his bicycle.

“No one should die doing their favourite sport,” he wrote, urging cyclists and drivers to be more careful sharing the streets.