security

City to install anti-ramming barriers in Rue Saint-Jean pedestrian area

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

The Ville de Québec is investing nearly $100,000 in a pilot project involving barriers to prevent car- and truck- ramming attacks on the city’s pedestrian streets, officials announced on May 30. Over the next few weeks, the barriers will be placed along the section of Rue Saint-Jean that is being pedestrianized for the summer.

The pilot project comes in response to concerns raised by residents and tourists about the vulnerability of the city’s pedestrian streets to terrorists or rogue drivers using cars, trucks or vans as weapons – an increasingly common threat. In 2016, 86 people were killed when a terrorist drove a truck through a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France. In 2018, 10 died when an anti-feminist extremist drove a van down a Toronto pedestrian street; in March 2023, two people were killed and nine were injured in Amqui, Que., by a man with untreated mental health issues behind the wheel of a small truck; and on April 26, in Vancouver, 11 people were killed when a man behind the wheel of an SUV ploughed through a Filipino heritage festival.

“We have an obligation to protect people who participate in events,” Marc Des Rivières, director of transport and intelligent mobility at the Ville de Québec, said on the Radio-Canada drive-time show C’est encore mieux l’après- midi. “We’ve been evaluating the risks for the past several years and deploying various means. However, we have to acknowledge, events like these are multiplying around the world … whether it’s religious radicals, lone actors, impaired drivers or people with mental health issues. It does create a risk, because ‘zero risk’ doesn’t exist. So we have the obligation to put in place adapted measures.”

City crews will install four Swiss-made Armis One antiramming barriers and nine concrete planters on the road and along the pavement of the pedestrianized portion of Rue Saint-Jean, at the corners of Rue D’Auteuil and Côte du Palais. According to a city information document, the barriers can stop a nine-ton truck, but don’t create any additional obstacles for pedestrians, cyclists or wheelchair users, and don’t require constant surveillance. First responders who need ac- cess to the street will be able to deactivate them remotely, Des Rivières explained. When activated, the barriers deploy “big red metal teeth” which rip through the front of a vehicle.

“This pilot project will assess the effectiveness of the device during assembly and disassembly operations, as well as access for emergency vehicles. The city will then be able to evaluate the feasibility of deploying this system on a larger scale,” the city’s communications and citizen relations department said in a statement.