The Montreal North intersection where a 2-year-old died is a troubled spot, residents say

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The girl was in a stroller being pushed by her mother Wednesday morning when the two were hit by a car turning at the corner of Fleury St. E. and des Récollets Ave.

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Linda Gyulai • Montreal Gazette Carla Gutierrez crosses Fleury St. E. of des Récollets Ave. in Montreal North on Wednesday with her three-year-old daughter Kelly 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 several meters while turning at an intersection. “We need a pedestrian light,” says Gutierrez. Photo by Dave Sidaway/Montreal Gazette

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The intersection where a two-year-old girl was struck by a car and killed during rush hour Wednesday morning in Montreal North was a tragedy waiting to happen, locals 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 at the corner of Fleury St. around 9 a.m. E. and des Récollets Ave. The car drags the stroller a few meters. The child was rushed to hospital in critical condition but died from his injuries. Her mother was treated by paramedics for upper body injuries.

“You stand on the corner for 10 minutes and you’ll hear screams and horns 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 many cars parked near the intersection were hit by vehicles making the mandatory 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 Kelly 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 was changed from two-way to one-way less than a year ago, she added. The change now forces all cars coming from north and south on des Récollets to turn onto Fleury, she said.

“I’m scared and stressed,” Gutierrez said of the news of the fatal accident earlier in the day. He also has a two-year-old son.

“It’s very dangerous here and cars don’t respect pedestrians,” she said, adding that drivers often drive between pedestrians crossing the street on the same green light as turning cars.

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“We need a pedestrian light.”

Esteban Ceron, who lives on the corner, said he and his dog were recently nearly hit by an impatient, fast-turning car at the intersection. He also pointed to the new one-way traffic that forces more cars to turn onto Fleury and the lack of pedestrian lights. Add in 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 down suddenly and some run red lights, he added.

Another factor that appears to have made the intersection more dangerous recently, Seron said, was the closure of East Fleury 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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Residents and business people the Montreal Gazette spoke to in the area all said they noticed cars would turn eastbound onto Fleury from des Récollets anyway, into the oncoming lane of traffic in defiance or because they didn’t notice the closure of the eastern section.

However, city workers had removed all the cones from Fleury by Wednesday afternoon and reopened the street in both directions.

Montreal North mayor Christine Black, a member of the opposition Ensemble Montreal party, is on vacation, a party spokesman said. The spokesman added that it is his understanding that the intersection and work on Fleury is under the city’s jurisdiction, not the borough’s.

Black issued a statement following the fatal accident, offering his “sincere condolences to the parents and family of the two-year-old girl. … As a mayor, a mother and a citizen, I am disturbed by this event.”

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An accident investigator is investigating what happened, the statement added. The findings “will allow us to see if the intersection needs to be made safer. Rest assured that safety is a priority for our local administration.

For Vicky, pedestrian lights and one-way traffic are issues she has to deal with. But also driving habits.

“You take fast-turning cars going too close to pedestrians and careless pedestrians,” she said, “and you have an accident waiting to happen.”

lgyulai@postmedia.com

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