MONTREAL - A young woman is dead and another is in critical condition after being hit by a garbage truck overnight in Montreal.

The collision took place at 1:50 a.m. at the intersection of Sherbrooke St. and St. Laurent Blvd. while it was snowing.

The truck was going west on Sherbrooke, turning right on St. Laurent as the women were crossing the street.

Police say the 23-year-old man driving the truck had a green light when he made the turn.

He told police that in the snow, at night, he simply did not see the pedestrians.

Police said the women were in the crosswalk when they were hit.

One woman, 21 years old, was declared dead at the scene.

The second woman, also 21, is in critical condition in hospital with severe injuries to her lower body.

Constable Yannick Ouimet said that when everyone on the road, both drivers and pedestrians, should take care when using intersections.

"The driver has got to make sure he looks everywhere before he makes his turn," said Ouimet.

"Pedestrians also have to make sure they have a visual contact with the driver before they cross the street. It's not because you have the right of way or because you are facing a green light that you can actually just cross the street without looking."

Police are not recommending charges.

The case for side guards

Jesscia Holman-Price died in 2005 when she slipped under a snow removal truck in Westmount. Her mother, Jeannette Holman-Price, has fought the city since then to install side guards on all its heavy trucks.

Side guards create a barrier between the truck's wheels, making it impossible for pedestrians and cyclists to be crushed by the rear wheels of a truck.

"I believe that the cost of fatalities is so low with the no-fault [car insurance] regime in Montreal and throughout Quebec, that it is cheaper to continue killing people than to outfit its fleet," said Holman-Price. "When will Montreal wake up? How many deaths will it take before this life-saving adaptation is installed."

Recently, the borough of Ville St. Laurent was the first jurisdiction in Quebec to require side guards.

Plateau borough Mayor Luc Ferrandez would like to bar trucks from St. Laurent Blvd. after dark.

"During the day St. Laurent is an artery, but during the night it's a bar zone with lots of people going out, should it stay in the list of roads for trucks? I don't think so," said Ferrandez.