Road safety – Bus lanes: towards the embryo of an attempted experiment? –

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Bus lanes: towards an embryonic experimental attempt ?

Road safety - Bus lanes: towards the embryo of an attempted experiment? -

In full 2WD consultation, the interministerial delegate obviously does not know what to do with this demand, as old as it is legitimate, of bikers: to use the bus lanes when the normal route is congested…. Recall of facts.

While the consultation on motorized two-wheelers initiated by Michèle Merli (read in particular and) should soon lead to concrete measures, the interministerial delegate for road safety seems to get a little tangled up about the circulation of motorcycles and scooters in bus lanes…

Motorcycles in the bus lanes:
recall of facts

  • Bus routes: Yves Contassot answers questions from Site (read)

  • Bus routes: the FFMC meets Bertrand Delanoë and Jean-Paul Proust (read)

  • Bus lanes: Parisian bikers continue to put pressure on the town hall (read)

  • Bertrand Delanoë on the bus lanes: "bikers must know that I will not give in!" (read)

  • Eleventh demo for bus tracks in Paris (read)

  • Bus routes: vast mobilization of two-wheelers in Paris (read)

  • Motorized two-wheelers in the city: Denis Baupin responds to Parisian bikers (read)

  • Report: bus tracks still under video surveillance (read)

  • Motorized two-wheelers in the city: European examples (read)

  • Paris is considering a Charter of motorized two-wheelers (read)

  • Bus lanes: are cyclists hindered by motorcycles ? (read)

  • The effect of Saarland on the movement of motorcycles in the bus lanes (read)

  • Motorized two-wheelers in the city: the City of Paris loses control ! (read)

  • 14 proposals to make motorcyclists safe: Remy Heitz reviews the measures proposed by Axa Club 14 (read)

  • Motorized two-wheelers in the city: Paris launches into concertation (read)

  • Motorized two-wheelers in the city: the Mayor of Paris persists in taking the wrong path… (read)

  • The mayor of Paris tries to reconcile with motorized two-wheelers (read)

  • Motorized two-wheelers in the city: the City of Paris accused of disinformation (read)

  • Paris City Hall signs the Motorized Two-Wheeler Charter (read)

  • Georges Sarre for the movement of motorcycles in the bus lanes (read)

  • England blows hot and cold with bikers: London mayor opens bus lanes to motorcycles (read)

    • The readers of Site – who as everyone knows are a little more fortunate than the others – have known for a long time that the "fight" for the circulation of motorcycles in the bus lanes is a long term test (read our box below). against) … It will therefore be necessary to be wary of the more or less opportunistic declarations of such or such leader, particularly before a tense electoral deadline (let us recall in any case that the regional elections will take place on March 14 and 21, 2010, in hardly more three months)…

    Authorized, tolerated, experienced, repressed…

    In addition to knowing whether it is authorized (in several large European cities), tolerated (in France until recently) or repressed (in Paris since the election of Bertrand Delanoë and – paradoxically – the widening of bus lanes, with the active support of the police headquarters), the movement of motorcycles in city bus lanes is quite emblematic of the difficulty that decision-makers (governments, town halls, prefectures, etc.) have in expressing their views on a subject that ‘they do not master … or poorly.

    Because if, for any city dweller using a motorcycle or a scooter to get around without wasting time in traffic jams or public transport while ensuring their safety, the question no longer even arises as the answer is obvious ( take the bus lanes at a reasonable speed, when the "normal" roadway is too crowded to move there in complete safety, can quite simply be likened to a survival reflex), the situation is very different for the "decision maker" who does not ” has never ridden on a two-wheeler or has only a vague image of a deadly machine (see in particular the "Mortal Scooter" campaign,)…

    Thus the very many attempts at claims, explanations, demonstrations, blockades, etc. initiated in recent years by biker associations – mainly via the FFMC – have they always come up against, if not with a sickly bad faith of the "delanoesque" type, with a wall of total incomprehension (read our box opposite)…

    "The subject is delicate and I am not in favor of a test which would mix cyclists and motorized two-wheelers too dangerously.", Michèle Merli recently told our colleagues at Parisian, adding that he was nevertheless "quite possible to try the experience in the corridors reserved for buses and taxis".

    Paris actually has some portions of bus lanes (and taxis) prohibited for bicycles when cohabitation with buses is considered too dangerous for cyclists ("less than 4.5 m wide or showing a broken white line", specifies the town hall). Except that at sight of nose of daily user, these portions represent barely a few hundred meters on a total of more than 200 km…

    Suffice to say that if Ms. Merli counts "try the experiment"only on these few portions, the problem will remain almost complete: it will only be an umpteenth announcement effect quickly denied by reality, and Parisian bikers will continue to fall into superb traps at 90 euros ( rue Reaumur, boulevard Saint-Michel, avenue Denfert-Rochereau, the list is long!) while trying to limit their risk of accident. To be continued … Stay connected !

    Eric MICHEL

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