Driver glanced at GPS map moments before striking Parc Avenue jogger last year, coroner says

A driver unfamiliar with downtown Montreal was glancing at a GPS map on hiscellphone when he fatally struck a 62-year-old jogger on Parc Avenuelast year, according to a coroner's report.

The reportconcludes that the death ofConcepcinCortacanswas "avoidable," yet makes no recommendations about cellphone use by motorists.

Instead, coroner StphanieGamachesuggests that better signageindicating the pedestrian crossing onParcAvenue facing the George-tienne Cartierstatuecould help prevent future accidents there.

ForCortacans's widower,AndrBenyamin, the report fails to address a significant loophole that exists in the Quebec Highway Safety Code.

"Using acellphonewhile driving is an offence, but using it as a GPS is not an offence,"Benyamin told CBC News.

"That is contradictory and a bad regulation that we have in Quebec."

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Since his wife's death, Benyamin has been calling for reckless motorists to face stiffer penalties.

The driver who struck his wife was given$1,000fine fordangerous drivingand four demerit points. Despite having run a red light, police determined he wasn't criminally at fault.

That was much too lenient, saidBenyamin.

"I'm not looking for revenge," he added. "But if drivers are not warned and penalized for their bad actions, they are going to repeat their offence."

Driver wasunfamiliar with Parc Avenue

Following the Jan.7, 2016 collision, the driver told police that he didn't live in the downtown Montreal area,and that he had never driven on ParcAvenue before.

"He was going to a meeting and was using the GPS on his cellular telephone to navigate," the coroner's report reads.

"He would have had a moment's inattention and would not have noticed the red light."

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The coroner's reports also explores several other dimensions ofCortacans' death, including a bus thatGamachesaid would have blocked the jogger'sview of oncoming traffic.

Moving the bus stop to improve visibility, though, is ruled out because thatwould only put pedestrians and motorists at further risk.

Opposition frustrated with city inactionon Parc

Better signage, Gamache's report says, would warn drivers unfamiliar with the area of the presence of the pedestrian crossing.

On Monday, a spokesperson for Mayor Denis Coderre's administrationsaid they were analyzing the coroner's findings and declined further comment.

The mainopposition party at City Hall, Projet Montral, expressed frustration with what the see as the city's persistent refusal to make Parc Avenue safer for pedestrians.

"The very least that the city could do is support our call for the installation of photo-radar technology on that stretch ofParcAvenue,"said Alex Norris, ProjetMontralcouncillorfor theJeanne Mance district.

"Far too many people have been killed and very badly injured on ParcAvenue for far too many years."

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