Checks on Highway 20 in the Longueuil and Montreal areas result in 19 tire violations and 14 for mechanical defects.
Officers with the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and other authorities performed checks on Montreal-area roads one morning this month, looking for vehicles not equipped with winter tires.
The Highway Safety Code says all motorized vehicles on Quebec roads that are registered in Quebec, including rental vehicles, must have winter tires between Dec. 1 and March 15, inclusive. Drivers of vehicles without snow tires are liable for fines of $200 to $300. (In an exception, drivers of newly purchased vehicles have seven days to install winter tires.)
The morning of Dec. 3, SQ officers with the SQ Cartier-Champlain and Candiac highway patrol stations, in collaboration with Longueuil police and provincial transportation ministry roadside enforcement authorities, performed checks on Highway 20 in the Longueuil area. More than 10 citations were handed out for vehicles without snow tires and five for mechanical defects on vehicles.
Also on the morning of Dec. 3, officers with the SQ Montreal highway station conducted checks with transportation ministry roadside authorities on Highway 20 in the Montreal area. Eighteen citations were handed out — nine for vehicles without snow tires and nine for those with mechanical defects.
SQ spokesperson Camille Savoie said Sunday similar checks could be repeated and done in locations throughout the province.
The SQ does continuous monitoring to improve road safety, it said in a statement. Having winter tires, which grip the road better in snowy, icy or cold conditions, is one of the necessary ways to ensure safety on the road.