Projet pilote visant à documenter la sécurité des écoliers
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Government announcement
23 February 2018

The Government of Quebec celebrates the establishment of a pilot project that documents the safety of grade-schoolers

Projet pilote visant à documenter la sécurité des écoliers

🚍Annonce ce midi avec ma collègue Maryse Gaudreault pour améliorer la sécurité de nos enfants 👧🏼🧒🏽👧🏻👦🏼 🚍 : projet pilote…

Posted by André Fortin, député de Pontiac, MNA for Pontiac on Friday, February 23, 2018

Québec City, February 23, 2018 —In line with its desire to increase children’s safety, the Government of Quebec is celebrating the establishment of a pilot project in partnership with the company Bus Patrouille Inc. This project will document how often motorists illegally pass school buses when the buses’ blinking red lights are on or the stop sign is out.

Today André Fortin, Minister of Transport, Sustainable Mobility and Transport Electrification, accompanied by Maryse Gaudreault, MNA for Hull, and Louise Boudrias, Deputy Mayor of Gatineau, acknowledged this initiative that will provide valuable information on drivers’ behaviours and will assist in finding solutions to increase the safety of vulnerable road users, namely young grade-schoolers.

Thus, for a period of 45 days beginning March 12, the company will install cameras on school buses in various regions of Quebec in order to collect information on the inappropriate behaviours of drivers. The results will be passed on to the Ministère des Transports, de la Mobilité Durable et de l’Électrification des Transports, which will establish a monitoring committee to analyze the data.

Quotes:

Our government has demonstrated its desire to improve Quebec road safety by presenting a major bill modifying the Highway Safety Code. With this in mind, we have taken a strong commitment with regards to the protection of vulnerable road users. Projects like this one by Bus Patrouille Inc. follow in this same vein, and I can only salute their initiative that will help protect what is most precious to us—our children.

– André Fortin, Minister of Transport, Sustainable Mobility and Transport Electrification

There’s no doubt that in order to make our roads safer, the contribution of all communities is necessary. Projects like Bus Patrouille Inc.’s are important to better understand and analyze the behaviours of drivers regarding school buses and to try and find solutions.

– Maryse Gaudreault, MNA for Hull 

I’m thrilled to see that data will be gathered in the Gatineau area as part of this research project. This will allow us to identify the issues specific to our local reality and will doubtlessly give us food for thought when it comes to the safety of our fellow residents.

– Louise Boudrias, Deputy Mayor of Gatineau

Technological advances increase the opportunities for action where it used to be impossible. At Bus Patrouille, we are proud to have developed a program that will ensure the safety of our children. We salute Minister Fortin for his vision of road safety.

– Jean Soulière, CEO of Bus Patrouille

Key facts:

  • The project led by Bus Patrouille Inc. will collect data on how often motorists illegally pass school buses with the help of cameras installed on bus exteriors.
  • This initiative is based on two similar pilot projects completed in Ontario, the first in the city of Ottawa (2015) and the second in the following municipalities (2016): Waterloo, Kitchener, Mississauga, Brantford, Simcoe and Sudbury.
  • The regions that will participate in Bus Patrouille Inc.’s project are:
    • Québec City: 2 buses
    • Montréal: 3 buses
    • Laval: 2 buses
    • Outaouais: 1 bus
    • Laurentides: 1 bus
    • Côte-Nord: 1 bus
    • Montérégie: 1 bus
    • Estrie: 2 buses
  • Other than the ministry representatives, the experimental project’s monitoring committee—who will have the mandate of evaluating the project’s results, identifying issues related to the implementation of this technology and making recommendations—will be made up of representatives from the following organizations:
    • Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions
    • Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec
    • Association des directeurs de police du Québec
    • Association québécoise des cadres scolaires
    • Bus Carriers Federation
    • Fédération québécoise des municipalités
    • Union des municipalités du Québec