Montreal's public health department is calling for "traffic calming" measures to be integrated into every road reconstruction project the city undertakes.

Poor road design is responsible for the vast majority of traffic accidents, the department's urban environment and health unit says, and fixing those design flaws would be the cheapest and most effective way to make streets safer.

Ambulances have been dispatched to accidents at 5,000 intersections over a five-year period, according to the department, which made the recommendation on Tuesday based on an extensive study into the relationship between public health and traffic.

Surveillance cameras to monitor red lights won't do much to reduce the increase of pedestrian and cyclist injuries as much as redesigning streets, researchers at the public health department said Tuesday.

"Once we're redoing a major artery in Montreal, why don't we take into account the traffic calming aspects, the protection of pedestrian aspects, at the same time," said Dr. Norman King, an epidemiologist with public health. "Rather than redoing it just the way it was done in the past."

Measures to force traffic to slow down, such as decorative barriers, narrow intersections and protruding sidewalk corners are all proven ways of making streets safer for everyone, King said.

The city has a great opportunity to change some of its main roads given the list of upcoming renewal projects, including the extension of Highway 25 from Laval to Montreal, and the expansion of Notre Dame Street East, King said.

In Montreal, those kinds of measures are usually restricted to upscale neighbourhoods such as Outremont, and the Town of Mount-Royal.

The study found five boroughs in particular are dangerous for pedestrians: Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Ville Marie, Côte des Neiges/Notre Dame de Grâce, Rosemont/Petite Patrie, and Villeray/St. Michel/Park Extension.

The study also found that:

• Seniors who live on congested streets have a 30 per cent greater chance of being hospitalized for respiratory problems than people residing on side streets.
• Pregnant  women who live near busy streets have a higher chance of giving birth to low-birth weight or premature babies.
• As many as 10 per cent of children on the island of Montreal suffer from asthma.