De 2016 à 2020, plus de 300 personnes ont été tuées au Québec et des milliers d’autres ont été gravement blessées tandis qu’elles se déplaçaient à pied. Des tragédies qui n’entraînent généralement aucune conséquence pour les conducteurs. « Tuer un piéton au Québec, c’est comme happer un animal, c’est un non-évènement»», déplore Catherine Ricard, mother of Jules Boutin, 13 ans, heurté mortellement devant son école il y a deux ans. Elle demande la tenue d’une enquête publique auprès de la coroner en chef.
Publié le 29 oct. 2021
Nicolas BérubéLa Presse
« Jules avait tout pour lui»»
Pedestrian safety, even children in school zones, is not a priority in Quebec, denounce the parents of Jules Boutin, who died after being hit by a school bus.
The last morning she saw her son, Catherine Ricard remembers having found her beautiful.
"Jules was 13 years old.He was as tall as me.He was leaving for school, it was a Thursday.We kissed.Then he returned to ask me for a belt, which I gave him.He left again.And that's all.»»
At the end of the classes that day, on September 12, 2019, Pierre Boutin, father of Jules, was parked a few streets from the versatile ofMonts, in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, and was waiting for his son with whom he had toGo shopping to plan a weekend weekend.
Seeing that Jules did not arrive,M.Boutin believed that he had no doubt forgotten their appointment, and that he had returned home in school bus.
On the way to the house,M.Boutin received a call from his daughter."She tells me that the police are in the entrance, and that they are waiting for me to arrive.»»
The police ask him to go to Laurentian hospital in Sainte-Agathe.On the spot, we teach him that at the end of the classes, Jules was caught up in the driver of a school bus.
"The doctor explains everything they tried to do, how they wanted to save Jules.It lasts 5 or 10 minutes.Then he starts to cry...I ask him, "What, was my son who died?"He said to me, "Yes.”»»
The violence of being torn off your child is impossible to put into words, explains Catherine Ricard."That afternoon, I experienced a stupor. Et cette stupeur, elle est toujours en moi»», dit-elle, assise sur le canapé de sa maison des Laurentides.
Poorly protected students
By dint of asking questions, Jules' parents were able to redo the thread of events preceding the end of his young life.
Inadequate intersection, painting of the erased pedestrian crosspiece, driver late on the schedule, and who said he did not stop after having had the impression of having hit something at the corner of the Brissette and Legaré streetsWith the flat nose bus that it turned to the left, engaging in the intersection where Jules crossed.
« La liste est effarante»», noteMme Ricard.
Two collisions per day occur on average in school zones in Quebec.Since 2012, there have been at least 3 dead there, and more than 47 seriously injured, according to data from the Quebec Automobile Insurance Company (SAAQ).
According to lawyerMarc Bellemare, formerMinister of Justice, the security of school zones should be the subject of special attention in Quebec.In addition, the question of the training of bus drivers must be re-examined, he says.
In my experience, transport companies engage almost anyone.People who are not necessarily trained for that...As it affects young children, you must have even stronger security measures.It would be relevant for the coroner to open a public inquiry, because it has been 30 years since there were in this area.
MeMarc Bellemare
In Quebec, the verification of the skills of drivers of heavy goods vehicles, which are part of the school buses, is left to the discretion of the employer.An update of driving skills of drivers is necessary once every three years.
No accusation for preventable death
The first thing that surprised Jules' parents was the fact that an investigator of the Sûreté du Québec told them, in the hospital, in the minutes following the announcement of the death of their son, that no accusationwould not be brought against the driver - while the investigation was just beginning.
Jules' parents also discovered that police bodies considered pedestrian dead as events without consequences. « Quelques mois après le décès de Jules, un policier de la Sûreté du Québec m’a dit d’“aller au spa”»», noteMme Ricard.
The police did not do any toxicology test with the driver, while Jules suffered one in the hospital."In France, such a test is automatic when there is a man," says Pierre Boutin.In Quebec, it is left to the discretion of the police officers.»»
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Les parents ont aussi appris que la conductrice de l’autobus n’avait freiné que 100 m après la collision, malgré le fait qu’elle a dit avoir entendu un « boum»» et vu « quelque chose de blanc dans le bas du pare-brise»» quand elle faisait son virage devant l’école secondaire.They also learned that she had hit the rear view mirror of an ambulance with her bus that morning, without informing the paramedics, and that she was able to take the wheel of a school bus the week following the death of Jules.
In its report lodged last month, Coroner Julie has. Blondin note que la mort de l’adolescent était « évitable»».The driver of the bus may have been distracted by the presence of a motorcyclist who was immobilized at the opposite direction of hers, and who gave her the way so that she could make her turn on the left, she writes.
In a video filmed at the scene of the collision by a student immediately after the impact, we hear a woman say: "I looked at the bicycle [Motocyclette].»»
À cause de l’absence de preuves physiques sur les lieux de la tragédie, les policiers experts en reconstitution de collision n’ont pas été en mesure d’« établir le positionnement exact du lieu de la collision ni de déterminer avec certitude ce qui a pu se passer et encore moins de se prononcer sur la responsabilité du piéton ou de la conductrice»», écrit la coroner.
Catherine Ricard realized that no mechanism forces drivers to be attentive to their environment.It is for this reason that she requests the holding of a public inquiry on pedestrian dead.
As a motorist, I have no responsibility to look at pedestrians.If I turn left, but I look to the right and kill someone, even in a school area, there is nothing that will happen.Legally, it's like I crushed a cat.
Catherine Ricard, mother of Jules
« Attendez-vous qu’un jeune se fasse tuer ?»»
For years, Jean-François Bienvenu, who had a infographic trade near the intersection where Jules was caught up, made complaints to the city of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts for donkey backsand lighting signs are installed around the versatile. Le trafic était beaucoup trop « lourd et chaotique»» pour une zone scolaire, selon lui."It was such a dangerous corner," he said.I noticed it every day.»»
An hour before the collision,M.Welcome to even apostrophe a public works manager who had come to his business. « Attendez-vous qu’un jeune se fasse tuer ? Ça fait six ans que je vous en parle»», lui a-t-il lancé.M.Welcome has been said on several occasions that donkey backs would be badly received by truckers, who have a municipal garage nearby.
À la suite des pressions de parents après la mort de Jules, la Ville de Sainte-Agathe a commandé un rapport sur la zone scolaire, qui a conclu que la sécurité des enfants est « compromise»» à cet endroit où des centaines d’adolescents convergent à la sortie des classes.
The city notes that a school brigadier was posted at the intersection a year after the death of Jules, that flashing panels have been added and better marking of the road made a year and a half after the collision.
In the summer of 2022, the city intended to redo the intersection, among other things by carrying out its elevation, by building sidewalk projections, reducing the width of the street and adding a cycle path.
« Nous demeurons à l’écoute de nos citoyens et citoyennes et encourageons une communication constructive et ouverte, note LaurieMichaud-Chea, responsable des communications de la municipalité.We are obviously wholehearted with the family of Jules and his entourage.»»
Broken lives
The death of Jules has upset all aspects of his parents' life.They each took a year of work stoppage.They separated.
"I have the impression that the person who caught my son pressed the" Delete "button of my life," said Catherine Ricard.The person who reached "Delete", the company says that he did not do it on purpose, that he had not seen this button, that he owes me nothing, not even an apology.»»
Jules was a first class, a gifted, says his father.
Il voulait devenir ingénieur, mais pas n’importe où : il voulait étudier auMIT à Boston.The morning of the collision, we talked about it.He was told that with his notes, he could perhaps have scholarships.
Pierre Boutin, father of Jules
C’est surtout « la grande gentillesse»» de Jules qui survit dans les souvenirs de sa mère.
"When I think of my child, I think of his discernment.He had everything for him.What gets angry in all of this is that Jules did the right thing.He crossed the street in the right place, and that's what killed him.»»
Responsible for distraction in bodily accidents involving at least one pedestrian as a victim
Drivers: 68 %
Pedestrians: 15 %
Both parties: 17 %
Source: Saaq
How to prevent future dead
Humans have been traveling on foot for 200,000 years, and have started to travel behind the wheel of motorized vehicles just over 80 years ago.However, pedestrian fittings are often absent or inadequate on the public highway, which exposes people who move to constant dangers, explains Sandrine Cabana-Degani, director of Pedestrians Quebec.
Q.What lessons do you learn from the collision that took Jules Boutin?
R.What we see with Jules' file is that it was a avoidable death.This is what the coroner concluded.Mais plusieurs questions sont laissées en suspens, et on n’a pas eu l’occasion de les aborder.How is it that young people, children, lose life for errors of judgment or inattention of a driver?What should we say to our children if even going through in the right place so that they are not properly protected?
We think that by a thematic public inquiry, we could go further and see how, collectively, we can warn future dead.There has never been a public inquiry on pedestrian dead in Quebec.It would represent a turning point, where we say, like society, that these dead are unacceptable and that we can do something to better protect our citizens, including children who simply go to school on foot.
Q.Does the road safety code adequately protect people who move on foot?
R.As it is written currently, the code has the principle of prudence in its introduction, but this principle is not really embedded in the articles of the code.And there are no specific sanctions in the event of non-compliance with this principle, which does not make it really applicable by police services.This is one of the things you would like to look at with a public inquiry.
There is also the question of street facilities in school zones that must be studied.We see a lot of cases in Quebec where the developments are not adequate at all to ensure the safety of young people who go to school on foot.Could the Government of Quebec or the Ministry of Transport establish a national standard in which all municipalities should comply?The tragedy arrived in Sainte-Agathe, but it could have occurred and could still occur anywhere in Quebec, because we leave the goodwill of local actors the development of school zones, without any minimum standard.
Q.These are often groups of parents who pressure to improve arrangements and soothe motorized circulation around schools.Depending on your experience, does it work?
R.It is sure that it can help parents mobilize.For us, it is problematic that it takes a mobilization of parents to make a gesture as simple as to secure the trips of children who go to school on foot.It should be the basis of our choice of facilities.Jules' death is a demonstration of the failure of our society to protect our most vulnerable citizens.There must be an awareness that these dead and these serious collisions are avoidable, and that we have a role and a responsibility to avoid them.
Pedestrian dead in Quebec
2020: 51
2019: 71
2018: 70
2017: 75
2016: 60
Source: Saaq
Difficult fall for pedestrians
Le mois dernier, ÉmileMartineau, un adolescent de 16 ans qui marchait en bordure de la route 335 à Saint-Lin–Laurentides, est mort après avoir été happé par le conducteur d’un véhicule, qui a pris la fuite sans lui porter secours.Derick pimparé, 21, was arrested and accused of deadly flight offense, in particular. Puis, le 24 octobre, un homme de 46 ans a été happé mortellement par le conducteur d’un autobus de la Société de transport deMontréal qui faisait un virage à gauche alors que la victime traversait à l’angle de la rue De Castelnau et de l’avenue De Chateaubriand.An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the collision.
The principle of prudence
Added in 2018 in the road safety code, the principle of prudence is aimed at all road users.He specifies that "the driver of a road vehicle is required to demonstrate increased caution with regard to more vulnerable users, especially people with reduced mobility, pedestrians and cyclists. L’usager vulnérable est, pour sa part, tenu d’adopter des comportements favorisant sa sécurité»».
Source: Quebec Road Safety Code
