The deadliest season on Quebec roads began a few days ago and is already “following the trend” of previous years, warned the director of the CAA-Quebec Foundation, Marco Harrison.
According to the CAA, the 75-day period between St. John the Baptist Day and Labor Day is historically when most fatal traffic accidents occur in the province.
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“There are already five deaths on the roads in six days,” Harrison said in a telephone interview Thursday.
In 2021, a total of 92 deaths occurred during these two and a half months, according to the Société d’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) road safety report.
Although this period only represents a fifth of the year, it saw more than a quarter of its 347 kills.
It is the season when “we see many motorcyclists, cyclists, there are more pedestrians on the streets,” and more traffic means more accidents, SAAQ spokesman Mario Vaillancourt explained in a telephone interview.
“Unfortunately, sharing the road is still a difficult thing for some road users to understand,” Harrison added.
He also pointed out that there is “an influx of visitors who come from outside, either from another province or from the United States.”
There is “a substantially increased number of RVs on the roadways,” he added.
“During the two years of the pandemic there has been a craze for these types of vehicles and they sell a lot.”
CAA’s annual Summer Travel Intentions Survey, released June 1, indicates nearly half (45 percent) of Quebecers plan to travel within the province, compared to 28 percent who will go elsewhere. from Canada or abroad, and the 20 percent that will stay. at home.
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speed and distraction
Harrison and Vaillancourt agree that the main causes of crashes are distraction and speeding.
“Most people are on vacation, so I don’t see the need to drive fast, to get distracted,” Harrison said.
He emphasized the importance of being attentive, of being seen and of always keeping a safe distance from other cars, in order to always have room to maneuver to brake suddenly or avoid an obstacle.
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The SAAQ also warns of the consequences of tiredness behind the wheel during long vacation trips with the awareness campaign “Stop before tiredness stops you”, launched in recent weeks.
Regardless, “for a good 10 years, the route record has improved,” Vaillancourt said.
“The number of accidents as such is decreasing.”
However, he said that “one death is always too many.”
In 2011, the number of deaths was 479, 132 more than in 2021.
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