Thousands of Quebecers are on vacation as the two-week construction holiday begins, but most are choosing to stay in the province to enjoy their time off.
According to a CAA-Quebec survey, 15 per cent of vacationers will stay home and 39 per cent will hit the road to discover more of La Belle Province.
“I think it’s very important to us to take a moment because we work a lot, we don’t have a lot of time with the family,” said Sébastien Houde, a carpenter.
“I’m going to do like motorcycle, I’m going to be with my families and maybe I’m going to be at the restaurant.”
With more than 200,000 construction workers eagerly awaiting Friday afternoon to go into “vacation mode,” the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) is reminding road users to be cautions when travelling and sharing the road.
“Speeding is one of the leading causes of fatal collisions on Quebec roads,” the SQ said in a press release on Friday morning.
“It should be remembered that the safety of transportation networks is a shared responsibility which includes transit users,” they added. “Indeed, human behaviour is the cause of a majority of fatal and serious injury collisions, which means they are preventable.”
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The SQ had conducted a road safety operation at various locations on the morning of July 17.
“We will be patrolling and doing operations in the areas where it is most likely that car collisions will occur,” said Lieutenant Joyce Kemp, Sûreté du Québec.
“Our officers will mainly be targeting the four principal causes of major car collisions, which are speeding, distraction, basically the use of cell phone and other electronic devices while driving, wearing of the seatbelt, and impaired driving.”
They explained that the areas of Highway 50 in Mirabel and Highway 20 in the Rivière-Beaudette region were under increased police surveillance as they had been designated as Zero Zones.
André Durocher, the director of road safety for C-A-A Québec, emphasizes that drivers must stay focused on the road and not get distracted.
“Distraction is much wider than just the cell phone. Looking at billboards, looking at the scenery, you’re driving, your eyes should be on the road,” said Durocher.
Despite adverse weather conditions, their personnel mobilized to conduct the targeted road safety operation.
In total, officers issued more than 260 tickets, including 146 exclusively for speeding violations.
“Adopting safe driving behaviors is one of the keys to achieving Vision Zero, which aims to improve road safety in the years to come,” the SQ explained. “Be safe and have a great vacation!”
Not everyone in the construction industry will be on vacation, some workers CityNews spoke to in Montreal will remain on the job site to make progress on certain projects.
“My team, we’re not taking the holidays of construction, we’re going to probably go in September. There’s a lot of work and unfortunately, we’ve got to close it as quickly as possible. So we’re going to be working during the holidays and maybe in September we’ll take our two weeks,” said Charles Coelho, a foreman with TCI+.
Other workers — not in construction — will be enjoying time off in the coming days and weeks.
“Absolutely, in the city and out, there’s so much fun to be had in Montreal in the summer, so we try to take advantage of what we can, you know, go to the beach and Verdun’s my favorite area personally to hang out,” said Brooke Thomson, a Montrealer.
Dominic Legault, another Montrealer, said, “I usually go on terraces, watch movies, try new restaurants with my kids, my girlfriend, so pretty laid back.”
