{"id":40350,"date":"2025-11-09T00:51:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T00:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carsp.ca\/?p=40350"},"modified":"2025-11-20T15:50:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:50:52","slug":"carsp-snn-interview-maxime-brault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carsp.ca\/en\/news\/carsp-news\/carsp-snn-interview-maxime-brault\/","title":{"rendered":"CARSP SNN Interview – Maxime Brault"},"content":{"rendered":"Kristine D\u2019Arbelles <\/strong>
\nThanks again for being here. Today, I have the pleasure of introducing you. You are the Director of Road Safety Research at the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de l\u2019assurance automobile (SAAQ). Your team is in charge of providing road safety knowledge that informs public policy, both by analyzing and interpreting accident data and by working with Qu\u00e9bec researchers on studies targeting issues that are specific to Qu\u00e9bec, but are also relevant to the entire road safety community. Thanks again, Maxime, for being with us today.<\/p>\n

Brault, Maxime <\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s my pleasure. Thank you for having me.<\/p>\n

Kristine D\u2019Arbelles <\/strong>
\nMy first question\u2014we always like to start interviews like this\u2014is just to get to know you a little better. If you had to tell us a fun fact about yourself, what would it be? Anything interesting you\u2019d like to share with our members?<\/p>\n

Brault, Maxime <\/strong>
\nSure. I\u2019m also a part-time actor, although I\u2019ve done less of that in recent years. But I was even a member of the Union des artistes in Qu\u00e9bec, the union for actors and comedians. I discovered the joy of theatre, improv and all that as a teenager. Then I worked for a company in Qu\u00e9bec City that did interactive theatre and murder mystery evenings. So I had to be good at improvising and all that. It also helped me with research in a way because of the creativity, trying to find unexpected solutions. I can also see the parallels when people ask me, \u201cYou speak at conferences, doesn\u2019t that stress you out?\u201d And I say, \u201cWell, I did theatre and it\u2019s pretty much the same.\u201d The important thing is to know your lines, the stage directions, your movements. A presentation is kind of the same thing: know your content, know what you\u2019re going to say.
\nAnd your movements. Well, in that case, it would be the order in which you put your slides or organize your presentation, so I sort of draw on that from my past as a part-time actor. So that\u2019s what I share with the people around me, here at work.<\/p>\n

Kristine D\u2019Arbelles <\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s great, I like that. And I like how the things we do outside of work can sometimes help us with our work. The things we do in our lives, just for fun, can sometimes help us in our career. And as you mentioned, improvisation, presentation, it helps a lot in road safety when you need to present data instead of just showing the numbers and figures.<\/p>\n

Brault, Maxime <\/strong>
\nExactly! And we have to make sure the audience understands our content. So we have to be able to make it understandable, clear and often in lay terms. So, those are elements needed in road safety.<\/p>\n

Kristine D\u2019Arbelles <\/strong>
\nAnd why road safety? What led you to work in our field?<\/p>\n

Brault, Maxime <\/strong>
\nIt was a bit by chance, actually. I initially trained as a statistician, even though I did a master\u2019s in epidemiology a little later while I was working, but as a statistician, obviously, you can work with numbers in many fields, like psychology, biology, any scientific field. And with all that, we\u2019re often sort of alone in our teams; we\u2019re like the \u201cnumbers guy\u201d that people say: \u201cOh, well, we\u2019ll ask him, he\u2019ll help us.\u201d And as a new statistician, a new professional, I often had to consult with fellow statisticians. I heard that there were several statisticians working at the SAAQ at the time, in the statistics department. So I applied there five years after working in other fields, and I ended up at the SAAQ, in the statistics department, but I was soon working with teams conducting road safety studies and analyses. And then I joined the road safety teams, so I basically stumbled into a field that I came to love. And since around 1993, I\u2019ve worked solely in road safety and it\u2019s an area of activity I truly love.<\/p>\n

Kristine D\u2019Arbelles <\/strong>
\nI conducted a few interviews in my new position on the editorial board, and the last time I interviewed someone in the road safety industry, he told me the same thing. That he just randomly ended up in road safety. I find that a lot of people stumble into our industry. He\u2019s doing something else. And then something leads them into the safety industry. Even I didn\u2019t study road safety in college or university; I was in communications. But I fell into road safety in my position at CAA, so I think it\u2019s common for many people in our industry.<\/p>\n

Brault, Maxime <\/strong>
\nYes, exactly.<\/p>\n

Kristine D\u2019Arbelles <\/strong>
\nMy next question is: in your opinion, what is one of the most pressing matters that needs to be studied in the road safety industry?<\/p>\n

Brault, Maxime <\/strong>
\nThere are several things that we could have mentioned because there are many advancements that still need to be made, in all areas. Obviously, we talk a lot about Vision Zero in our strategies and in government administrations regarding road safety and all that. So we are aiming for the fewest possible fatalities and serious injuries, but we could identify a few things. But I have maybe two that I\u2019ll bring up. First, maybe, how to ensure better coexistence on the road.
\nEspecially concerning vulnerable road users. That\u2019s pedestrians, cyclists and I would also include motorcyclists on that list. When we look at the road safety record in Qu\u00e9bec, the improvement for these groups has not been as considerable as for users of vehicles like light trucks and heavy trucks, for example.\u00a0 Twenty years ago, vulnerable road users made up 20% to 25% of fatalities. Today, it\u2019s 35% to 40% when we look at our road safety records. So there are different elements we need to understand about coexistence, especially since more and more modes of transportation are being added with the electrification of small transportation devices\u2014electric scooters, electric bikes as well\u2014which can travel at greater speeds than when we were just on foot. So all sorts of elements create a need for coexistence even among vulnerable users. Even bicyclists, electric scooter users and pedestrians. So I think we still have a lot of research to do on that front, so that\u2019s one point I had noted.<\/p>\n

The other point is that there are more and more technologies being used. We use technology to, among other things, do this interview remotely and all that. It has very useful capabilities for work and for all sorts of things. But we\u2019re bringing all sorts of tech into our vehicle. We have our cell phone with us when we travel. We sometimes have trouble detaching from it, but vehicles are also full of new screens, applications to listen to music, use GPS, for navigation and more. So that leads to a lot of distractions behind the wheel. These are issues we examine closely at the SAAQ.
\nWe are also keeping an eye on all the technological advances in the vehicle itself, like driver-assistance features and autonomous vehicles, which will also bring a whole new dynamic to travel. And yes, we believe these vehicle technology elements will increase safety, but we might go through phases where we\u2019ll have a difficult coexistence between someone who doesn\u2019t have their hands on the wheel or their foot on the pedals and someone who does. So I think these are important research subjects in the next few years.<\/p>\n

Kristine D\u2019Arbelles <\/strong>
\nYes, with technology, knowing what it can do for us, how it can help us with road safety, and its limitations as well. Right now, there are vehicles that can help with highway driving. You don\u2019t need to touch anything and it stays in the lane and slows down for the car in front of you, but you are still the one driving. So the technological transition itself is also interesting. And drivers will need to understand, what do I need to do and what does the technology do? How does it help me?<\/p>\n

Brault, Maxime <\/strong>
\nExactly right.<\/p>\n

Kristine D\u2019Arbelles <\/strong>
\nFinally, the last question. As we mentioned at the beginning, you know, sometimes people get into road safety, fall into it; they don\u2019t plan for it, but it happens. But for young people and for people who really have a plan and want a career in road safety, what advice would you give them?<\/p>\n

Brault, Maxime <\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s right, as we said, there\u2019s no bachelor\u2019s degree in road safety. Sometimes you get into it by chance after choosing another field, like communications, statistics, engineering and so on. The beauty of road safety is that it\u2019s multifactorial, so there are many elements; it touches on several disciplines. And they need to work together to improve safety on our roads. What I found interesting when I fell in love with road safety as a profession, is that it\u2019s a social mission of public interest. We know that road accidents and collisions are tragic for families and friends, for people who lose someone in a crash or who suffer injuries that leave them with a long-term disability or other. This work is important for the community, to reduce the costs and ensure that there is less harm caused to families. What I would say is that since there is no specific degree, get involved with the road safety community. CARSP is a great example, the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals. It\u2019s a gathering place where you can make road safety friends. Or how I share, I work in partnership. All these networking elements are important for someone looking to build a career in road safety. Don\u2019t hesitate to contact researchers, practitioners in the government and the people in charge of road safety as well, to really develop your skills in that area and see how you can make a career out of it, because it\u2019s a great career. After about 30 years, I can say from experience that it\u2019s really interesting. And it gives a lot of professional satisfaction.<\/p>\n

Kristine D\u2019Arbelles <\/strong>
\nYes, we\u2019re a friendly bunch, and we like to talk. So, if you have questions, we\u2019re always available. Great advice. That\u2019s all the questions I had for you. Thanks so much for being with us today.<\/p>\n

Brault, Maxime <\/strong>
\nIt was my pleasure. Have a good rest of your day.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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