{"id":482525,"date":"2026-02-18T07:34:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T07:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482525\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T07:34:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T07:34:27","slug":"montreal-west-parents-renew-calls-for-crossing-guard-at-intersection-after-latest-collision-involving-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482525\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal West parents renew calls for crossing guard at intersection after latest collision involving children"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parents in Montreal West are demanding stronger safety measures at an intersection after two Royal Academy West students were struck by a car on their walk to school Monday morning.<\/p>\n

The children were hospitalized<\/a> with what has been described as minor injuries, with parents saying this close call is the latest warning sign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s terrifying to think that your kid is crossing the street and it\u2019s really badly set up,\u201d said Alana Cymerman, the parent of a child at Royal West Academy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are near misses every hour here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montreal police say a car driving south on Westminster Street stopped at a stop sign, then accelerated and hit two students from the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI panicked first (thinking) it was my kid, then I found her on the tracker, saw she wasn\u2019t here, called the school,\u201d said Cymerman.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Parents push for crossing guards near Montreal high school after student struck<\/a><\/p>\n

Parents of kids at the school say they\u2019ve been lobbying for safety measures for years.<\/p>\n

Flashing stop signs were implemented by the city last year. But parents say that doesn\u2019t go far enough, especially during busy morning traffic.<\/p>\n

\"\"The flashing stop sign at the intersection of Ainslie and Westminster streets on Feb. 17, 2026. (Zachary Cheung, CityNews)<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a single mother in the province or in the country who would ever say that enough is enough when it comes to prevention of safety of children,\u201d said Jessica Houde-Woytiuk, the English Montreal School Board\u2019s (EMSB) parent commissioner for high schools.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time there has been an accident at this intersection.<\/p>\n

In 2024, 14-year-old Charlie Shein<\/a> was struck on his way to class.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time I realized he was about to hit me it was too late,\u201d Charlie told CityNews in December 2024. The teen was uninjured.<\/p>\n

\"\"Charlie Shein on Dec. 16, 2024, and cars at the intersection of Ainslie Road and Westminster Avenue in Montreal West. (Erin Seize, CityNews)<\/p>\n

Residents have been pushing for changes to that section of Westminster, which becomes dangerous during morning rush hour as commuters rush onto Highway 20.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is now the fourth incident involving a car hitting a pedestrian at that intersection,\u201d said EMSB chair Joe Ortona.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is obviously one intersection that is dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Residents want a crossing guard on the corner of Ainslie and Westminster streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would have visibility on the crossing guard, the cars could see it,\u201d Cymerman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these factors, sunlight, the trains, time of day, traffic, a crossing guard can take all of that into consideration,\u201d added D\u00e9sir\u00e9e McGraw, the Quebec Liberal Party MNA for NDG.<\/p>\n

Under the current rules, crossing guards are only assigned to primary schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeenagers are actually as much, if not more at risk, because they\u2019re often on their phones, they\u2019re less likely to be accompanied by an adult,\u201d McGraw explained.<\/p>\n

Parents have launched a petition<\/a> calling on the province to change the law to allow crossing guards near high schools. It closes Friday and reached the 3,000 signature milestone by Tuesday. <\/p>\n

They hope action comes before another student is hurt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know this has happened in the past, this has happened repeatedly, and it\u2019s going to happen again. It\u2019s not a matter of if, it\u2019s a matter of when,\u201d Houde-Woytiuk said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parents in Montreal West are demanding stronger safety measures at an intersection after two Royal Academy West students…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,2338],"class_list":["post-482525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-montreal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}