As number of pedestrians hit by cars rises, SAAQ launches awareness campaign

Quebec's automobile insurance board (SAAQ) is launching a new awarenesscampaign aimed at showing the public just how vulnerable the human body is to injury or death when hit by motor vehicles.

The campaign comes at a time when the number of pedestrians hit by motor vehicles continues to rise across the province.

Seven pedestrians are hit every day in the province, says the SAAQ. In 2017, nearly 2,700 pedestrians were hit 69 fatally.

That represents an 11.3 per cent increase in deaths from 2016 and is 25 per cent higher than the average over the last five years.

Forty pedestrians have been killed in the first six months of 2018 up from36 over the same period last year.

As part of the campaign, messages will be broadcast on television, radio and online under the theme: "The damage is incomparable."

The SAAQ has also set up an interactive bus shelter at the corner of St-Laurent and Ren-Lvesque boulevards where people, when standing in front of it, will see a skeleton reflected back on the screen.

When you move, the skeleton moves in mirror-image and, at first, it seems fun, explained SAAQ spokesperson Mario Vaillancourt.

People will find themselves dancing and waving their arms to watch the skeleton mime the motions.

But then a car suddenly comes along and slams intothe skeleton in dramatic fashion demonstrating how dangerous it is for a human body to be hit by a motor vehicle.

After the noisy, tire-squealing crash, the once entertaining skeletons are splayed out in tatters.

"At first, people find this a little funny, but when the car comes, we even hear the noise of the collision," said Vaillancourt. "It surprises them."

The SAAQ, he said, is trying new ways, like the interactive bus shelter, to reach people that go beyond the usual forms of advertising.

After people leave the exhibit, he said, they will hopefully be more careful andmore aware of the danger. Safety, he stressed, is a responsibility shared by all users of the road.

With files from The Canadian Press