La motorisation ou 'la rancon du progres': Tramways, vehicules-moteurs et circulation (Montreal, 1900--1930).

摘要

The subject of this thesis is a technology, the motor vehicle, that greatly affected our society. Between 1900 and 1930, motorization progressed rapidly in the Montreal area as the motor vehicle became a dominant mode of urban transportation. But to reach such a status, the new technology needed more than an increasing number of people adopting it. Because the street was already occupied by different users, automobile drivers had to impose the motor car on it. Above all, it was with tramway promoters that they had to "negociate".; This negotiation related to both the space available in the street and the movement of vehicles. Concerning space, the omnipresence of tramways and their installations along with the parking of motor vehicles, particularly in the downtown area of Montreal, led to suggestions of wide boulevards and subway systems as possible solutions. The fact that tramways had priority in traffic and could not be passed by motor vehicles constituted major obstacles for motorists anxious to benefit from the motor car. By the end of the 1920s, conflicts were so intense that the notion of progress was used to promote both the motor vehicle and the tramway.; These conflicts over the sharing of streets had other implications. First, different sections of Montreal's elite favoured one technology over the other. On the one hand, motorists were well organized. At the same time, tramway concerns were determined to protect their monopoly. This animosity within the elite was intensified by antimonopoly feelings and by dissatisfaction with tramway service. Finally, traffic problems multiplied with motorization: deaths, accidents, law suits and downtown congestion. Traffic became an important preoccupation leading to an increase in police forces and the establishment of numerous organizations dedicated to traffic management.; The popular classes of Montreal were not excluded from these conflicts among the elites. Generally speaking, the entire population was forced to take sides with one group of promoters or the other. Motorization then appears as a factor of division within social classes as well as a phenomenon transcending the barriers between them.