Photograph by: Marie-France Coallier, Gazette file photo
Source: Montreal Gazette
QUEBEC - As Montreal braces for its first serious snowstorm of the season tomorrow, the families of three people killed by snow removal trucks last winter are still waiting for answers.
Those deaths, in two separate incidents on the same day in February, made the issue of road safety during city-wide snow removal operations such a hot-button issue that a coroner's inquest was called.
But the inquest, presided over by coroner Jean-Luc Malouin, hasn't started hearings, and by the time it does at the end of February 2010, more than a year will have lapsed, leaving Montrealers heading into another snowy winter in the dark about how the pedestrian collisions could have been prevented.
The Weather Network, the service used by The Gazette, says Montreal could receive up to 20 centimetres of snow tomorrow.
On Feb. 3, two women and one man died in two incidents that occurred while a fleet of snow removal vehicles rumbled through Montreal's streets disposing of the snow left over by a blizzard.
Jean-Paul Pinet, 71, and his 72-year-old wife, Solange St. Onge, were killed after they were struck while crossing Sherbrooke St. - on a green light - as they made their way to Notre Dame Hospital.
A few hours later, Lucie Rivard-Lanouette, 76, died in virtually the same way, struck by a large semi-trailer that was turning onto Iberville St. from Fleury St., although in her case, there were no traffic lights at the intersection.
When Malouin's inquest finally begins, it will also examine the death of Rajaa Benkiran, a 49-year-old mother of two who was killed Dec. 15 by a snow removal truck as she crossed Jean Brillant St. near the Université de Montréal.
"We don't have the coroner's report yet to determine just what happened," said Yves Girard, head of Montreal's snow removal office. "But we presume that the question of blind spots, visual contact maintained by the driver and (the role) played by the pedestrian will play a role."
Yesterday, Quebec's auto-insurance board - the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec - launched an awareness campaign warning motorists, and especially pedestrians, about the dangers of snow-clearing operations. It's the first time a SAAQ campaign has focused on snow clearing. The bilingual campaign, which is slated to run until February, will cost $800,000 and includes several TV ads in French, and an English radio spot.
Almost immediately after the Feb. 3 deaths, Transport Quebec ordered the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec to oversee a committee formed by representatives of Montreal, Quebec City, Quebec's Union of Municipalities and the Sûreté du Québec to look into improving safety during snow-removal operations.
A subcommittee has since been set up to examine how to narrow - if not eliminate - the blind spots encountered by drivers in control of vehicles nearly twice as high and four times as long as the average automobile. The number of hours worked by drivers, some of whom work for subcontractors paid by the trip and not the hour, will also be examined.
The findings of both groups are expected to be taken into account by Malouin.
Malouin's inquiry is scheduled to begin the week of Feb. 22, more than a year after the events that triggered it, and in a jurisdiction outside of where those incidents occurred. That it will be held in Laval is explained by the fact that the lawyer in charge of investigations for the coroner's office has been on sick leave and there were no courtrooms available in Montreal.
Until it begins, the plan in Montreal is for police and SAAQ inspectors to keep a closer eye on how snow removal trucks are being operated.
Because even though Malouin will make recommendations once he's finished his inquiry, there will be snow on the ground well before that inquiry starts.
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