Two workers injured after hit-and-run at Montreal road site

A hit-and-run at a roadwork site in Montreal's Pointe-Aux-Trembles borough injured two flagmen Wednesday night, putting one of them in critical condition.

According to witness accounts gathered by Montreal police (SPVM), a vehicle entered the cordoned-off roadwork site around 10:20 p.m., mowing down the workers and then fleeing the scene.

A 39-year-man is fighting for his life in hospital, while the other flagman, also 39, suffered minor injuries.

Martin L'Abbée, respresentative from the United Steelworkers, said the workers were installing orange cones on the site, and the driver hit them while performing the task.

"It's really frustrating," he said. "Someone is not going to go home tonight to his kids." 

L'Abbée represents around 1,000 of the 4,000 signallers in the province and they're "like a little family."

"Everybody knows everyone," he said. "When something hears something, they contact us right away."

No suspect was located by Thursday morning, and the SPVM has yet to provide a description of the vehicle.

The hit occurred near the intersection of Industriel and Saint-Jean-Baptiste Boulevard.

Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante addressed the incident on Twitter Thursday morning.

"The construction workers on our roads do important work in conditions that are not always easy," she wrote. "Impatience or recklessness towards them has no place and they deserve our full respect, no matter the detours required."

L'Abbée said the mayor's words were nice, but he also criticized Plante for not consulting with his union when deciding on new rules about removing orange cones from sites.

"They didn't call us," he said. "There was no one representing the workers there... She has to meet with us. There's things she should do."

He said that his union has been talking to governments in the province, asking for changes to regulations around construction sites.

"To make sure the regulations change and people know more about the signalmen and signalwomen and all the rules that go around it because people don't know about it," said L'Abbée. "It improved a little bit but not enough."

The SPVM could not confirm whether the event is being investigated as a case of road rage.

It's not the first time a worker has been struck by a vehicle on Montreal roads.

In April, a video circulating on social media showed a sedan ramming into a traffic controller, pushing him down the road. The incident launched a police investigation, but the traffic controller did not suffer life-threatening injuries.  

With files from The Canadian Press.