Construction site worker dies days after Montreal hit and run

A traffic controller who was hit by a car at a construction site last week has died.

The 39-year-old was working in a construction zone in the Pointe-aux-Trembles neighbourhood on July 12 when a car drove through the site and hit him and another worker.

The other worker sustained minor injuries. The 39-year-old was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. Montreal police confirmed his death on Wednesday morning. 

The driver, a 68-year-old, left the scene after striking the two workers but turned himself in to police the next day. 

Montreal police placed him under arrest, questioned him and then released him. He has not been charged. The investigation is continuing, a police spokesperson said.

Martin L'Abbée of United Steelworkers, the union that represents around 1,000 traffic signallers in the province, says the incident marks Quebec's 19th traffic controller death in the last three decades, including signallers and workers installing signage.

He called the figure "inconceivable," likening the work controllers do to protect road users to that of police officers.

"This has to stop," he said. "They're not policemen, but they're protecting everyone."

United Steelworkers is pushing for an update to Quebec's driving course to include a section on traffic control workers' safety, as well as more worker safety training in construction companies that receive government contracts for highway work.

L'Abbée also wants to see a public campaign to raise awareness of signallers' work and more severe penalties, such as higher fines and licence revocations, for drivers who violate traffic signals near road construction sites.

In a statement offering condolences to the family of the signaller, the office of Quebec Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault said it welcomes proposals for worker safety improvements and that it already plans to include in contracts additional measures to ensure proper signage installation at roadwork sites.

It also pointed to a recent update to its three-year plan to improve safety on roadwork sites, which includes increased speed monitoring around work sites and an evaluation of how traffic control barriers can "minimize exposure to risk" for workers.

L'Abbée called the plan "a step in the right direction," but insisted more needs to be done. He said he hopes drivers realize traffic control workers are there for their safety. "They're there for the security of everyone," he said. 

Quebec's workplace safety board, the CNESST, is also investigating the incident. It ordered the site shut down until the workers' safety could be ensured. The site remains closed.