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The Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) – Quebec’s auto insurance board – is rolling out a new campaign aimed at raising awareness of how dangerous vehicular collisions are to pedestrians.
SAAQ will be broadcasting its message of safety on television, radio, and online under the theme, “The damage is incomparable.”
The board has also set up an interactive bus display, located at the corner of St-Laurent and René-Lévesque boulevards. Passersby who stand in front of the screen will see a skeleton reflected back on the screen that mimics their movements.
SAAQ spokesperson Mario Vaillancourt explained that the display may appear fun at first, as the on-screen skeletons mime their movements. But then a car appears to crash into the skeletons, leaving them mangled and in pieces.
“At first, people find this a little funny, but when the car comes, we even hear the noise of the collision,” Vaillancourt told CBC News. “It surprises them.”
The new campaign comes as the SAAQ shares some sobering details about Quebec’s pedestrian injury figures.
According to the board, seven pedestrians are hit every day in Quebec. The board also noted that in 2017, nearly 2,700 pedestrians were hit.
Of those pedestrians hit last year, 69 were fatally injured.
That number represents an 11.3% increase in deaths from 2016 and is 25% higher than the average over the last five years, SAAQ said.
Within the first six months of 2018, 40 pedestrians were killed in vehicular accidents, compared to 36 over the same period last year.
