Plateau-Mont-Royal: a real “ticket trap” for pedestrians running red lights

The intersection at Plateau-Mont-Royal is the worst “ticket trap” for pedestrians on the island of Montreal.

About 978 tickets were issued by the Montreal City Police Service (SPVM) at the corner of Avenue du Mont-Royal and Rue de Lanadier, or an average of one ticket per day.

All tickets are issued for crossing the street at a red light, often early in the morning, during rush hour, our investigation office noted after analyzing it as part of our file on “ticket traps.”

“I’m really surprised,” said Sandrine Cabana-Degani, general director of Piétons Québec. It’s a small intersection and people don’t feel that crossing a red light is dangerous.

• Listen to Alexandre Dube’s microphone interview with investigative journalist Dominique Cambron-Goulet at the Journal de Montreal QUB :

Risky behaviors

According to its spokesperson Anik de Repentigny, the SPVM has been conducting surveillance for years in this busiest part of the metropolis. Pedestrians behaved in ways deemed too “dangerous”.

In the past three years, nearly 19,000 tickets have been issued to pedestrians for violating the rules. Road Safety Code10,000 including for disobeying a traffic light.

Half of them were given to the boroughs of Ville-Marie and Plateau-Mont-Royal.

“Penalties are issued near trip generators. So on commercial streets, near metropolitan areas, where there is a lot of pedestrian traffic,” underlines M.^me Cabana-Dekhani.

• Hear the advice of Me Éric Lamontagne from contraventionexperts.ca via QUB:

A dangerous shortcut

Behind the problematic intersection at Avenue du Mont-Royal is the second worst “ticket trap” for pedestrians, this time located on Boulevard Pie-IX near Rue Ontario east of Montreal.

No less than 539 offenses have been handed over in three years.

When a pedestrian crosses the Bi-IX boulevard, he is prohibited from doing so.

Photo by Charles Mathieu

Many pedestrians take the risk despite the sign warning them not to cross the boulevard to get to the grocery store located on the other side of the street.

The borough of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve said the Pi-IX Rapid Bus Service (SRB), currently under construction in front of the grocery store, will prevent it from crossing the boulevard in the future.

Meanwhile, despite the ongoing work, illegal crossing of people continues. “When I try to tell them not to do it, they tell me they’ve been passing through here for years,” says site worker Guy-Serge.

As with motorists, the number of tickets issued to pedestrians is decreasing. In 2023 alone, 5,208 reports were issued, or 2,500 fewer than in 2021.

– In collaboration with Dominique Cambron-Goulet