Road Safety

2010 Campaign - Courtesy begins by obeying the Highway Safety Code

Do you make simple gestures that help maintain harmony on the road, such as keeping a safe distance between you and the vehicle ahead, leaving enough space for pedestrians to cross the road, yielding where indicated and making mandatory stops when you are riding a bicycle? These gestures are required by the Highway Safety Code and are meant to help us share the road safely.

From August 30 to September 26, the SAAQ will broadcast two television ads and one radio message to remind road users that obeying the Highway Safety Code also means respecting others. According to a Leger Marketing survey conducted in Québec in 2009, 78% of respondents said that lack of courtesy makes them feel less safe on the road. Furthermore, 84% of respondents believed that lack of courtesy is an important problem in Québec.

Here are some rules to obey in order to share the road safely:

• Give others (motorists, pedestrians or cyclists) enough space.
• Respect the right-of-way, especially at intersections and highway on-ramps.
• Make your intentions known by using your turns signals or if you are riding a bicycle, hand signals.
• Use a gesture to apologize if you make a mistake.
• Always keep a safe distance between your vehicle and the one in front of you. This distance must be equal or greater than the distance travelled by a vehicle in two seconds. To calculate this distance, pick a fixed object on the side of the road. When the vehicle in front of you passes the object, count “one Mississippi, two Mississippi”. If you pass the object before you finish counting, you are too close to the vehicle in front of you!
• When passing a cyclist, keep a distance of around 1 m between your vehicle and the cyclist, and 1.5 m on rural roads.

We are all responsible for our conduct on the road

TV Commercial

Radio Commercial

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