For one family in the city’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough, the memories of what happened June 24th near Parc Mésy are still raw.
Al Housseini Diacko, his siblings and their mother were making their way across Lachapelle Street intersection towards the park at around 5 p.m. that day. As they crossed, the 14 year-old was struck by a car. He was on a scooter.
“He just lost his life immediately,” explained Sophie Lavoie of the road safety advocacy group, Souliers et vélos fantômes Québec (SVFQ).
On Saturday at the accident site, SVFQ, which commemorates the deaths of cyclists and pedestrians by setting up “ghost” bicycles and shoes painted in white, installed their first “ghost” scooter.
Diako is the youngest victim the group has ever commemorated. Members of the family, too distraught to speak on camera, wept openly during the ceremony.
Mohamed Sylla, a family friend who lives near the street, said this area of Lachapelle Street where the speed limit is 50 km/h is notorious for speeding traffic.
“Every year they have an accident here,” he told Global News. “Most times nobody dies. This the second time somebody dies.”
He and others point out that they’ve been trying to get the city to make changes for years.
“You just have to read the transcripts of borough meetings of the number of citizens that say during the day, this is a highway and during the night, it’s a race course,” stated SVFQ spokesperson, Severine Le Page, who lives in the neighbourhood.
According to statistics from the Police Directors Association of Quebec, the number of pedestrian fatalities across the province dropped by 23 per cent from 2022 to 2023. Still, road safety advocates argue that the 2022 fatality record was the worst in more than a decade so there’s still much work to do.
They blame governments for being slow to make changes.
“Because you can act quickly, it’s really doable,” Le Page argued. “Lots of countries have done it.”
One thing people in the area want to see is a reduction of the speed limit to 30 km/h. Sylla and other residents have started a petition to push for it, given the park’s proximity to the street and the number of children they say use the park daily.
“We’re going to the city, we’re going to call on all members of the community, we’re going to do our best to reduce the speed on this street,” he insisted.
Earlier this week Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said she wants 300 photo radars for the city from the province to help slow traffic, especially in school zones.
In a statement to Global News, borough mayor for Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Émilie Thuillier, said a photo radar could be “quick and effective solution to reduce speeding.”
She added that, “the request to reduce speed on Lachapelle Street is taken very seriously by the borough and the city, and will have to be discussed with Quebec as it is … under the responsibility of the transport ministry.”