Nunavik wants to boost road safety

Lizzie Lingard of Kuujjuaq, on the left, entered this winning banner on the theme of “On the right path: think family,” the slogan of a new road safety campaign promoted by the Kativik Regional Government. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KRG)

You wouldn’t see an overloaded ATV like this one in southern Quebec where drivers under 16 aren’t allowed. As well, overloaded ATVs on public roads and ATV driving near schools, as this machine in Kuujjuaq was, are forbidden. And everyone must wear a helmet. (FILE PHOTO)

When you’re walking around Nunavik communities, you have to watch your step and walk off the side of road.

If you don’t, you’re liable to get hit by an all-terrain vehicle careening down the street.

These situations become even more perilous at night, when darkness and intoxication create more dangers, for both pedestrians and ATV drivers.

Just last week an ATV plowed down a woman near Kuujjuaq’s Iqqaqivik bar. She later died from her injuries.

During the first four weeks of June, Nunavik recorded eight ATV collisions, which left one person dead and many others seriously injured.

June, as it turned out, was also “road safety month” in Nunavik — and for the Kativik Regional Government this offered a chance to promote safer driving in the region.

A contest offered $200 worth of camping equipment as an encouragement to Nunavimmiut to design banners for the region’s new “off-highway vehicle” safety campaign.

The slogan: on the right path, think safety, think family, think community.

That campaign reflects the growing concern among citizens, police and medical staff about the lethal driving habits of Nunavimmiut.

Members of a regional prevention committee, with members from the police, health board, school board and KRG, want to raise awareness about the problem, improve safety, cut the number of collisions and, in short, “to convert bad driving practices into responsible and safe ones.”

There’s a lot of work to be done there, particularly among youth.

Young men, 15 to 24, are most likely to be involved in collisions.

But by then, their bad driving habits are already ingrained, because the average age when kids in Nunavik generally start driving ATVs at eight and a half years. All they have to do is hop on and drive off, without first earning a “certificate of competence,” which is required in southern Quebec.

Those most at risk of ATV injury are generally those under 16, who don’t wear helmets and double-up on one machine — a common sight in Nunavik.

And, topping off this dangerous mix of inexperience, speed and, all too often, intoxication, there’s a growing number of vehicles on Nunavik’s paved roads and possibilities for collisions between heavy pick-ups and ATVs.

In the rest of Quebec, wearing helmets is mandatory and you have to be 16 before you can drive.

There’s 50-kilometre-an-hour speed limit imposed on ATVs, prohibitions on carrying passengers unless the ATV is adapted and prohibitions against riding on a street within 30 metres of a dwelling, a health establishment, or an area that is reserved for cultural, educational, or sports activities.

For those who don’t obey, Quebec’s Act respecting off-highway vehicles provides for many fines which include: $100 for riding an ATV without a safety helmet; $500 for allowing a child under the age of 16 to operate an ATV; $100 for a rider 16 or 17 years of age who operates an ATV without holding a certificate of competence; $500 to $1,000 for an adult who permits or tolerates the operation of an ATV by a rider 16 or 17 years of age who does not hold a certificate of competence; and, $100 for operating an ATV on a public road.

You can also get fined for operating an ATV without holding at least $500,000 in public liability insurance, consuming alcoholic beverages while on an ATV, or for transporting more passengers on an ATV than the number for which the vehicle was designed.

However, there’s little enforcement of Quebec’s highway safety code in Nunavik, and even municipal bylaws have not been successful in curbing local driving infractions.

Quebec’s law now says no off-highway vehicles, such as ATVs and snowmobiles, are permitted on public roads.

The KRG and Makivik Corp. have argued that this means all ATV drivers in Nunavik break the law, even if they are of age, wear helmets and respect speed limits.

If Nunavik residents are supposed follow laws developed for southern Quebec, then they they should have the same access to prevention services from the provincial vehicle bureau, la Société d’Assurance automobile du Québec, the two organizations have said.

And they want Quebec’s no-fault insurance to also apply to off-highway vehicle accidents in Nunavik because the province’s automobile insurance act doesn’t cover accidents on public roads that involve ATVs or snowmobiles.

The campaign for road safety comes at a time when many Kuujjuamiut are worried about the impact of renewed retail beer sales in their community.

In comments to Nunatsiaq Online, many refer to horrific alcohol-fueled accidents in the past which left many maimed or dead.