Montreal's pedestrians are among the most aggressive in the country — many take it as a point of pride.
But, motorists beware! If they are on foot, they have the right of way.
The number of tickets issued to drivers who fail to yield the right of way to pedestrians has jumped over 600 per cent since 2005, according to statistics released Quebec's auto insurance board.
The SAAQ says the number rose from 93 in 2005 to 568 in 2015.
"We cannot say exactly if we have more offenders or if we have more police operations," said Mario Vaillantcourt, spokesperson for the SAAQ. "It could be combination of the two."
At the same time, the number of accidents causing injury to pedestrians has actually gone down by 22 per cent, according to the SAAQ. 3,596 injuries were reported in 2000; by 2015, that number had dropped to 2,805.
"We cannot explain exactly why (there are fewer injuries)," Vailancourt said in an interview, "but, it's always a good thing when we have less injuries on the road."
Nevertheless, this is the right time to be talking about the importance of the sharing of the road, he said.
"We have awareness campaigns throughout the year," he said. "We have to repeat the message that you have to give way and have a visual contact between pedestrians and motorists at the intersection. It's the occassion today to talk about those things."