Police district reports zero fatalities on its roads this year
Montreal Police Station 1 Cmdr. Martin Bernier had good news to share. There were no fatalities or major injuries on the roads in Station 1 territory between March of 2017 and March of 2018. It is the second year running that Station 1 has recorded zero road fatalities.
Station 1 serves Beaconsfield, Baie-D’Urfé, Kirkland, Ste-Annede-Bellevue and Senneville — a 40-square-kilometre zone with a population of more than 50,600. Highways 20 and 40 slice through the region and although highway safety is the responsibility of the Sûreté du Québec, drivers regularly use popular arteries like StCharles Blvd. and Blvd. des Anciens-Combattants to cut through Station 1 municipalities to access the highways. Students drive to McGill University’s Macdonald Campus and John Abbott College in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue and the boardwalk in Ste-Anne is a tourist destination with many visitors arriving by car.
Bernier said the time his officers dedicated to enforcing the rules of the road over the last 12 months helped obtain the zero fatalities goal. There were 835 police operations throughout the station’s five municipalities in 2017.
Tickets were issued for speeding, not wearing a seat belt, drunk driving, not respecting road signs and traffic lights and contravening road rules in a school zone. Pedestrians and cyclists were also ticketed for breaking the rules of the road.
The success of the push for road safety in the region dovetails nicely with the island-wide SPVM Zero Accident campaign.
“My officers are very visible, very present,” Bernier said. “Things are going well.”
Bernier said the Zero Accident campaign encompasses the config- uring of safer traffic intersections, enforcing the rules of the road and dedicating time to educating the public.
Station 1 has plans in place for the warm months.
Two police officers have already started patrols on their bicycles. They will be stopping cyclists to remind them to wear helmets and not wear ear buds.
Officers will attend bicycle events in Beaconsfield and Baie-D’Urfé to engrave bikes with identifying numbers and talk to citizens about how to prevent bike theft.
The focus for the month of May is pedestrian and cyclist safety. Bernier said the important message is that vigilance on the road is everybody’s responsibility.
“It is not just the responsibility of drivers,” Bernier said. “Pedestrians and cyclists also need to make the effort to be aware of what is going on around them at all times.”
For one week in June, Station 1 participates in a nationwide crackdown on speeding.
August and September are the months students return to school, so Station 1 will set up radar traps at an elementary school located on a major artery and hand out warnings, not tickets.
Bernier said all the neighbourhood police stations in the West Island will collaborate in a massive enforcement of road rules in October.
“One victim is one victim too many,” Bernier said.