Road safety – The Mayor of Paris persists in taking the wrong path … –

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The Mayor of Paris persists in taking the wrong path…

Road safety - The Mayor of Paris persists in taking the wrong path ... -

Yesterday presenting the results of his questionnaire on the Paris Travel Plan, Bertrand Delanoë once again showed himself completely off the mark with respect to motorized two-wheelers despite a wave advanced on the rise of files…

The Socialist Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë, who presented yesterday in the company of his Green deputy for transport Denis Baupin the results of his "Questionnaire on the Paris travel plan"(read) produced by Ipsos between November 2005 and January 2006, once again was wrong about the place of motorized two-wheelers in the city…

Sent "to all Parisians", the questionnaire was completed by 140,194 people (including 30,000 on the internet), ie"a return rate of 13% which greatly exceeds the average usually observed in this type of survey"according to Ipsos.

Only 5% of the people who answered the questionnaire declared that they traveled by motorized two-wheelers against 73% by public transport, 45% on foot, 20% in "individual vehicle", 12% by bicycle, 8% by taxi and 2% by"roller or skate-board"(several answers were possible).

With the campaign for his possible re-election fast approaching, the Mayor has tried to come to terms not only with motorists – "I am not against motorists, I am against pollution !"-, artisans and small traders – whom he wants"facilitate travel and parking"-, but also with the users of motorized two-wheelers, more and more numerous in Paris…

And while the fines for non-inconvenient parking or reasonable traffic in the bus lanes continue to rain merrily – hand in hand with the Prefecture of Police! -, the Mayor discovers a passion as sudden as it is consuming for the rise of the lines: "after several meetings with the associations concerned, I ask the Prefect to set up an experiment of a few months allowing motorized two-wheelers to go up the lines of cars", solemnly declared Bertrand Delanoë, relying in particular on the fact that the Minister of Transport himself was studying the possibility (read).

An announcement that will certainly have its small effect even if it is in reality completely meaningless: not only is the line-up impossible to verbalize on a daily basis – apart from a few punching operations in front of the cameras – but it is also an integral part , at a reasonable pace, the driving and interest of a motorized two-wheeler in the city…

Questioned by Moto-Net, the Green Deputy Mayor in charge of transport specified that he had addressed the Prefect so that he "authorizes the signing of the Motorized Two-Wheeler Charter for at least six months"(read). But still according to Denis Baupin, the Prefect would have indicated that he did not"could not sign it because going back up is against the highway code"… Contacted by Moto-Net, the Prefecture unfortunately did not wish to comment on the subject"before knowing the outcome of the next Paris Council"…

"Raising the lines is a common practice that it is better to supervise so that motorists and motorcyclists know clearly under which conditions it is possible.", Denis Baupin still explains to Moto-Net, believing that the charter is"a response element for the recognition of motorized two-wheelers so that they no longer feel singled out".

In terms of safety, traffic flow … or even possible re-election, it would have been more advantageous for Bertrand Delanoë to allow motorized two-wheelers to circulate reasonably in the new bus lanes in the same way as bicycles. . Why not give it a try, at least for a few months? "No because it’s dangerous !", slice Denis Baupin, the Green deputy in charge of transport, visibly more concerned with the safety of his constituents cyclists than those of the ugly motorized two-wheelers that stink:"I understand that bikers ask to circulate in the bus lanes and personally I like to do tests, but not if it will cause additional deaths"…

A file also very poorly mastered by the Mayor of Paris, who did not hesitate to affirm without batting an eyelid "that at the beginning, I was in favor, but the Prefect showed me that it was dangerous"… A statement to say the least surprising when one remembers that from the start of his mandate, Bertrand Delanoë declared to Moto-Net that"Regarding the bus lanes, bikers should know that I will not give in !"(read)…

Somewhat embarrassed around the necks, his very close entourage then tried to explain that "it was at the beginning, there was a lot of work and the mayor was perhaps a little confused because indeed he was always against"…

In fact, the mayor of the most beautiful city in the world certainly has other things to do – we sincerely wish him! – whether motorized two-wheelers are safer in the bus lanes when the road is congested than stuck in the middle of traffic.

The real reason for this unreasonable obstinacy could therefore have more to do with the unfavorable psychological impact that this measure would have on its Green electorate, cyclists in the lead, even if experience shows that apart from two or three fundamentalists, most users of bicycles do not consider the presence of motorized two-wheelers in the bus lanes as a danger, or even an annoyance (read in particular). On the other hand, almost all users of motorized two-wheelers in the city see a significant gain in terms of safety….

Too bad, for someone who does not hesitate to present himself as a "democracy manager", lambasting the"lack of intellectual honesty"which his opponents would demonstrate at the Paris City Hall…

Bertrand Delanoë – who has fallen by 18 points in the latest CSA / ParisObs-Le Parisien poll while retaining 60% satisfied with his action at mid-term – will he be able to remove his blinders while he is still time ? Suspense … To be continued !

Eric MICHEL

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