Canuck

  Thursday, 28 February 2002

 < 12:09:05 PM>.

CBC News: Doctors want to shut down industry anti-smoking programs: "The Ontario Medical Association and Canadian Medical Association have sent letters to Canada's three largest tobacco companies urging that the campaigns aimed at teenagers be terminated immediately.

The associations say the programs are ineffective and might actually be encouraging smoking. "

 < 12:06:36 PM>.

This man's job: Keep Montreal pedestrians alive : "Montreal is a city with a well-earned reputation as a battle zone between cars and pedestrians. Drivers view yellow lights as a cue to speed up. Stop signs are considered optional.

When the province announced that it would allow right turns on red lights throughout Quebec beginning in August, it exempted Montreal. "Maybe it will never apply to Montreal," Transport Minister Serge Ménard said this month.

Paradoxically, however, the lack of respect for pedestrian crosswalks has not resulted in higher rates of serious injury, according to Mr. Searle. Because pedestrians don't expect cars to yield for them, they don't have a false sense of security. "

I don't know that I buy this completely. I think it's a bit of an outsiders view. My experience is that both vehicles and pedestrians will challenge each other in Montreal. Pedestrians routinely walk off the curb and into the street without paying much attention to the lights. They look, and if they think they can make it, they go for it. Of course they're used to the fact that drivers there are moving like hell. I think everyone has learned to live together there pretty well and the stats seem to back it up. Just be prepared if you're a tourist!