Their contravention against safety training

Photo Carl vaillancourt
Christine Duhaime and her children, Justin (left), Camille (before her mother), Emmanuelle (the smallest) and Florence Gagnon (right) attended the information session.

Carl Vaillancourt

Saturday, July 15, 2017 20:56

UPDATE
Saturday, July 15, 2017 20:56

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More and more cyclists Longueuil choose to redeem their ticket against a training of one hour on-bike safety.

Christine Duhaime was riding a bicycle with her four children in the opposite direction to traffic in mid-may when she was arrested by an agent of the Service de police de Longueuil.

He was handed a ticket of $ 48 and a circular, informing them that she could see their ticket cancelled if it was following a training of one hour on safety.

“This is an incentive interesting, that’s for sure. There are not many people who earn 48 $ per hour, so it’s worth it, ” said Ms. Duhaime, who has completed the training with her four children.

Aware of the risks that may be associated with the fact of riding a bike, Ms. Duhaime found that it is important for his children to be aware of the dangers of the road and good practices to avoid accidents, the ones who have between 6 and 13 years old.

Photo Carl vaillancourt

‘Swap your ticket” allows for a year to riders who have received a ticket to cancel it if he participates in a training on cycling safety.

Swap your ticket

There is now a year that the police Service of the urban agglomeration of Longueuil (SPAL) provides the program, Barter, exchange your ticket and the results are spectacular.

During this first year, 444 of 881 offenders, more than 50 % of them, have decided to follow one of the 12 sessions rather than pay the fine.

The number of accidents with injuries involving a cyclist has fallen from 26 % last summer, in Longueuil, and this would be in part due to the program, according to the spokesperson for the SPAL Melanie Mercile.

“The effects are visible, it was the attempt to raise the awareness of cyclists to the risks and dangers on the road to change their behavior on a bike “, explained the officer Mercile.

The results were so impressive that the initiative has been nominated for an award Ovation to the last sitting of the Union of municipalities of Quebec (UMQ).

Montreal, Boucherville, Brossard and Saint-Hubert have for their part decided to follow suit and offer the program to 2017.

“The minister of public Safety, commended the initiative and supports our approach since it allows to prevent and to raise awareness among cyclists and motorists, and reduce the burden on the justice system in the city also,” said Ms. Mercile.

A novelty in 2017

In its second year of existence, the program has added a variant for 2017, is to allow motorists who do not respect the distance of 1 m for cyclists in areas of less than 50 km/h and distance of 1.5 m in areas over 50 km/h to swap their statement of offence against the session information.

Offences that have an impact of three demerit points on a driving licence, such as not stopping at a red light, are also accepted in the program, which has a considerable impact for many cyclists, according to agent Eric Poirier.

“A temporary permit with only 4 demerit points, say if you lose 3 in a fire red bike, it does not leave much. It gives a chance for cyclists, but only one chance, ” argued the agent Poirier.

Examples of violations eligible to Swap your ticket

Photo courtesy

• Reflector missing
• Failure to yield the right of way during a left turn
• Make use of headphones
• Failure to stop at a red light
• Riding between two lanes of vehicles