Joel Goldenberg The Suburban

By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban

The borough of St. Laurent and the City of Montreal have invested $1.5 million to ensure safety around local schools for students, school staff and motorists as the new school year begins.

The work includes eight curb extensions — similar work was done this and last year in Côte des Neiges-NDG and other locales near schools; the raising of three pedestrian crossings and two intersections, the installation of 30 speed bumps, work on 1.6 km of sidewalks and a safety awareness campaign.

The latter includes traffic signs on residential streets around schools, including those “taking the shape of a student holding a placard that reads “Attention à nos enfants!” (“Watch out for our children!”).

“These signs represent an awareness measure that has proved effective for the last two years,” says a borough statement.

The awareness campaign around schools also involves an already existing collaboration between St. Laurent, the SPVM, the City of Montreal, the Centre de services scolaires Marguerite-Bourgeoys and the English Montreal School Board.

“The aim of this campaign is to encourage all those who travel in school zones – children and their parents, motorists, pedestrians and cyclists – to adopt safe behaviours when doing so,” says the borough statement. “To achieve this goal, the partners have created various tools to raise awareness, including brochures that are handed out by the police teams from the SPVM’s Station 7 in front of approximately 15 schools in St. Laurent.” n