Author of the article: Linda Gyulai • Montreal Gazette Carla Gutierrez crosses Fleury St. E. on Boulevard des Récollets in Montreal North on Wednesday with her three-year-old daughter, Kelie, in a stroller and with her son, Ricardo Alexis, who turns 12 next month. A two-year-old girl died on Wednesday morning after a car dragged her pram for several meters while turning at an intersection. “We need a light for pedestrians,” says Gutierrez. Photo by Dave Sidaway /Montreal Gazette

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The intersection where a two-year-old girl was struck and killed by a car during rush hour Wednesday morning in North Montreal was a tragedy waiting to happen, local residents say.

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The girl was in a stroller being pushed by her mother when the couple was hit by a car turning the corner on Fleury St. E. and des Récollets Ave. at about 9 a.m. The car dragged the stroller for several meters. The child was rushed to hospital in critical condition, but succumbed to his injuries. Her mother was treated by paramedics for injuries to her upper body. “You stand on the corner for 10 minutes and you’ll hear screams and horns honking five times,” said Vicky, a mother of eight-year-old twins who did not want to give her last name. The family lives on the corner of Fleury and des Récollets. The mother said several cars parked near the intersection were hit by vehicles making a required turn from des Récollets to Fleury.

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One problem is that the intersection doesn’t have a pedestrian light, Carla Gutierrez said as she crossed the intersection with her three-year-old daughter, Kelie, in a stroller, and her son, Ricardo Alexis, who turns 12 next month. Another problem is that the section of des Récollets north of Fleury changed from two-way to one-way less than a year ago, he added. The change now forces all cars coming from north and south on des Récollets to turn onto Fleury, he said. “I’m scared and stressed,” Gutierrez said of the news of the fatal crash earlier in the day. He also has a two-year-old son. “It’s very dangerous here and cars don’t respect pedestrians,” he said, adding that motorists often weave between pedestrians crossing the road on the same green light as cars turning.

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“We need a light for pedestrians.” Esteban Ceron, who lives around the corner, said he and his dog were recently nearly hit by an impatient car turning quickly at the intersection. He also pointed to the new one-way that forces more cars to turn onto Fleury and the absence of a pedestrian light. Add rush hour traffic as a factor, and you have the makings of an accident, he said. “I find it a very dangerous intersection,” Ceron said. Many cars break suddenly and some run red lights, he added. Another factor that seemed to make the intersection more dangerous lately, Ceron said, was the closure of East Fleury Street just east of the intersection des Récollets for the past two to three weeks. He and other residents said they could not understand why cones were placed to block the south side of the road since no construction work was taking place.

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All the residents and business people the Montreal Gazette spoke to in the area said they noticed cars would turn east onto Fleury from des Récollets anyway, into the oncoming lane in defiance or because they were unaware of the closure of the eastbound section . However, city workers had removed all the cones from Fleury by Wednesday afternoon and reopened the road in both directions. Montreal borough mayor Christine Black, a member of the opposition Ensemble Montréal party, is on vacation, a party spokesman said. The spokesman added that it was his understanding that the intersection and the work at Fleury is under the jurisdiction of the city, not the municipality. Black issued a statement following the fatal crash, expressing her “sincere condolences to the parents and family of the two-year-old girl. … As a mayor, a mother and a citizen, I am troubled by this fact.”

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An accident investigator is piecing together what happened, the statement added. The conclusions “will allow us to see if the intersection needs to be made safer. Please be assured that safety is a priority for our local administration.” For Vicky, the pedestrian light and the one-way are problems that need to be addressed. But also driving habits. “You get cars turning too close to pedestrians and inattentive pedestrians,” he said, “and you have an accident waiting to happen.” [email protected]

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