Safety around Montreal school zones top of mind for parents

With the school year just around the corner, there's a new grassroots push to improve road safety.

It comes after a number of serious collisions involving children and is an activity designed by and for children: cutting up a pentagon in yellow paper or fabric, similar to the ones seen around school zones.

Along with it is a message to motorists.

"I want to feel safe around my school," said one boy, proudly designing his own logo in a promotional video created by a group called the Pas Une Mort de Plus Movement.

The group is made up of parents who want to prevent road collisions involving children.

Jacinthe Latulippe lost her 11-year-old daughter, Anais Renaud, in St-Flavien, near Quebec City, five years ago.

"Five years later, I wouldn’t even think of sending my nine-year-old son to school using the same road," Latullipe told the group in the Facebook video. 

The demand for safer streets around schools became even more urgent a year ago, when a seven-year-old refugee girl from Ukraine was killed was crossing the street on her way to school on Fullum Street, near DeRouen Street, not far from the Jacques-Cartier Bridge.

Mariia Legenkovska became a lightning rod for parents who were tired of watching motorists exceed speed limits and going through crosswalks without respecting pedestrian priority.

The English Parents' Committee Association (EPCA) decided to join the movement started by parents in the French sector.

"It's not just for children; it's for teachers, it's for parents to show that they matter, that their lives matter," said EPCA President Katherine Korakakis.

"We don't want any more deaths. And I asked this question before: how many deaths will it take before something is done?"

The City of Montreal went all in on DeRouen Street where Legenkovska was killed, and closed it off almost completely near the school — something that's not always possible.

But the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) said it makes safety a priority every September.

"At the beginning of the year, there's a lot of very important information to be shared with children, and traffic safety is high on that list," said EMSB spokesperson Michael Cohen.

"We at the school boards work very closely with local police stations."