According to Transports Quebec officials, there are still many drivers who don’t know what to do when they see an emergency vehicle on the road with no lights on.
The Montreal Police Service website states that the law requires drivers to perform a “tactical maneuver when an emergency vehicle, tow truck or a surveillance vehicle is stopped on the road, its yellow arrow light signal flashing, or rotating or On with the flashing light.”
That maneuver: Slow down and change lanes if possible, and get as close to the center line if you can’t.
Transport Quebec employees say that although the law has been in force since 2012, there is still a problem.
“Every day it’s the same situation where motorists refuse to respect the law,” route monitoring activist Justin Robillard told Global News.
He and a co-worker explain that it’s all kinds of drivers who sometimes forget to move, laughing as a Société de Transport de Montréal bus driver neglects to change lanes as he drives his bus to two Transport Quebec trucks. With flashing lights on, then stopped at the de la Montagne exit at the Ville-Marie Expressway.
“They are scared for their lives,” insisted Louis-Andre Bertrand, spokesman for the workers’ transport Quebec. “All they want to do is go home to their family at night and with people driving so close to them, they really need to be on their guard at all times.”
He pointed to April 2022 when a surveillance truck, with flashing lights on, collided with a vehicle because a driver was not moving.
Fortunately, he said, no one was hurt.
Some think that more enforcement could help get the message across to drivers.
,[The law] 10 years old, so it’s good to have a refresher, and there’s refresher enforcement,” argued traffic consultant Rick Lechner.
“The law provides for fines of $200 to $300 and four demerit points.”
Transport Quebec employees agree that there is a hefty price to pay, but an accident is far worse.
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