A father in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve whose two-year-old girl was hit by a distracted cyclist sounds the alarm as to the safety of pedestrian streets in Montreal.
“I yelled for him to brake, but he never heard me. He rushed into my daughter ”: Jonathan Lauzon was walking with his daughter Leika on the Pedestrian Street Ontario, in front of Simon-Valois square, when a banal walk turned to the nightmare on June 28.
Ontario Street, near Simon-Valois square, is pedestrian. Credit: Félix Desjardins
Félix Desjardins
“My little girl is not tanning and she was at a foot of me,” says the 46 -year -old man, still shaken by events. I turned around and saw a bicycle that came quickly. I realized that the guy was on his cell phone with headphones. Result: it has the two in front teeth which are split. ”
The teeth of the little Leika, two years, were split after she was struck by a cyclist on the pedestrian street Ontario on June 28.
Courtesy Jonathan Lauzon
The front wheel of the bicycle in question hit the girl’s head, who then gave against the asphalt. Little Leika, bloody, was transported urgently to hospital. The offender, for his part, took off in the way that Mr. Lauzon, helpless, watched over the well-being of his daughter.
Consequences
Little Leïka, two years old, received emergency care after being struck by a cyclist on the Pedestrian Street Ontario on June 28.
Courtesy Jonathan Lauzon
Leïka has not shown signs of severe concussion in the hospital, but has kept after -effects of events, more than a month later.
“We felt, two weeks later, a slowdown in its evolution,” lauzon launched. She had learned to be clean and all of a sudden, she is no longer. And when she sees bikes, now she freezes. “
“What is crazy is that the doctor who took care of her told me that it was at least the fourth child injured in a similar way that he had seen in the emergency room since the beginning of the summer.”
Increased monitoring requested
Ontario Street, near Simon-Valois square, is pedestrian.
Félix Desjardins
The father, who is himself a cyclist, Do not seek to declare war on bikes. He would simply like to see the implementation of stricter rules on pedestrian streets, especially for electric bikes.
“I have nothing against bikes,” he insists. But riding with headphones quickly, I don’t agree. There should be more severe police surveillance. ”
A few meters from the place where little Leïka was struck by a cyclist, in front of Simon-Valois square, another little girl was hit, Clémentine.
Félix Desjardins
In addition, earlier this week, the parents of another little girl, named Clémentine, who would have been struck by a cyclist, hung a sign a few meters away to call for caution on Ontario Street.
Rules that are difficult to implement
Ontario Street, near Simon-Valois square, is pedestrian.
Félix Desjardins
The case of pedestrian streets is in the viewfinder of the Quebec pedestrian organization which has campaigned with the Ministry of Transport for “uniform regulations” for a few years.
“The pedestrian street does not exist as a public path, therefore each municipality and arrondissement decides how the street is fitted out and which has the right to circulate there. It complicates things for police services, because the road safety code does not apply, “says Sandrine Cabana-Degani, director general.
Sandrine Cabana-Degani, Director General of Pedestrians Quebec
Pedestrian Quebec
Prohibiting bikes from circulating on the pedestrian streets has proven a false good idea in the past, since “the cyclists who are reckless will take the street even if it is prohibited”, she continues.
In addition, vehicle enthusiasts such as seglodes, cargo bikes and aligned wheel skates are “overrepresented among dangerous behaviors”.
“It would be necessary to tighten the regulations on which is entitled to take these pedestrian streets”, adds Mr.me Cabana-Degani.
Joint by email by The newspaperthe district of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve assured “monitoring the situation closely” and carrying out “awareness work”.
