Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault recently presented her road safety action plan. Under the motto “I’m in,” his plan essentially relies on repression to improve road pricing. Well, I’m not going on board!
Dishonest
With 392 deaths in 2022, this is certainly an increase of 13.2% compared to the average of the last five years. But it is intellectually dishonest for Ms. Guilbault to limit herself to these sensational statistics taken out of context to legitimize her initiative.
Among other things, the minister is hiding the fact that the number of road deaths has fallen by 82.3% since 1973, while the number of drivers has exploded by 135%.
And even if she limits herself to the last five years, Ms. Guilbault forgets to mention that the mortality rate per 100,000 inhabitants has remained fairly stable (4.3 in 2017 compared to 4.5 in 2022) and has fallen significantly since 2010. 4.5).
This also ignores the remarkable 10.4% decrease in the total number of injuries, the 11% decrease in minor injuries and the 4.2% decrease in serious injuries.
As for the number of deaths, it is surprising that it is increasing while the number of accidents is decreasing. Is it the drivers’ fault? It is possible. But could it also be that help takes longer to arrive? And given the setbacks in the healthcare system, could it be that accident victims are not receiving timely care?
One thing is certain: Ms. Guilbault does not care about this type of questioning. Get out of nuance and intellectual effort! She prefers to deceive Quebecers by playing with an isolated statistic to defend a 186 million plan aimed at crushing motorists while overall road tolls rise.
Manipulate
Disinformation is the intentional spread of information, especially incomplete information, in order to manipulate public opinion. Ms. Guilbault therefore misinforms Quebecers about the actual road toll. Now it remains to be clarified why.
