"I am angry because we had already warned about the dangerousness of this crossroads for bicycles for two years, explains Frédéric Kroff, the referent of the association Mieux de Move à Bicyclette.
on Boulogne-Billancourt. You just have to stay on this crossroads for a few minutes to witness some very dangerous scenes ”. A few withered flowers hanging on an M12 road sign, dedicated to bicycles, recalls the terrible accident that took place on this crossroads located at the exit of the Issy bridge in the town of Boulogne-Billancourt. A 24-year-old woman was killed when a truck turned her right towards the dawn quay. A drama which illustrates, according to cycling associations, the dangerousness of the development of this crossroads.
As we stand in the middle of an interview in front of this road junction, the scene of the accident is played out almost identically - without, fortunately, causing a victim that day.
A very large tanker turns to its right, leaving no chance for a cyclist wearing a fluorescent yellow bib to cross straight when she has the right of way.
Then a car also cuts off his road.
Two vehicles in a situation of refusal of priority according to the Highway Code therefore pass in front of this cyclist before she can cross.
“The bike is forced to wait while the priority on the right is for it, on the cycle path.
It's like a pedestrian crossing, explains Frédéric Kroff.
You are not allowed to cut a track without giving priority.
".
Dutch crossroads
Altis Play is a YouTuber, specialized in bike trips in Paris. For more than two years, with his camera attached to his hanger, he has filmed everything he encounters on the road, altercations, dangerous developments… and broadcasts it on the video platform. “Crossroads are the places where there are the most bicycle accidents,” he notes. From the moment you cross the road with other vehicles it is the most dangerous moment ”.
When he learned of the accident, Altis Play went there to find out what happened. It is when he sees a bus giving priority to a bicycle that he understands that this crossroads is dangerous for two-wheelers. He makes a very educational video of it, with an explanatory diagram of the blind spots for the truck driver on his chain. When the driver turns right, while his truck is very close to the cycle path, he cannot see the cyclists who enter the crossroads at the same time, according to the Youtubeur's reconstruction. “I do not take any responsibility away from vehicles that turn without looking, of course. But a good road layout should be able to forgive an error of a vehicle which will turn, decrypts the Youtubeur.It should allow vehicles to see the cyclist and make her take this turn more slowly ”.
What Altis Play describes is what is called “Dutch-style” crossroads, also requested by the association Mieux de Displacer à Bicyclette.
"The Dutch crossroads, in three points, is: shifting the cycle path from the path of vehicles, securing the passage and slowing down the speed" summarizes Frédéric Kroff.
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Reached by phone, Pierre-Christophe Baguet, the LR mayor of Boulogne-Billancourt declares that he has not had any requests to secure this passage, but that creating an offbeat fire for cyclists at this place "could be an idea".
The mayor recalls that a police investigation is underway to determine the reasons for this tragedy and adds that “the victim was wearing headphones during the accident.
"
Me Romy Collard-Lafond, lawyer in bodily injury, joined by "Le Parisien", recalls that in law, "non-driving victims, including cyclists in particular, benefit from an extremely protective status. The legislator, in the Badinter law of July 5, 1985, having indeed wanted to ensure that for this category of victims the right to compensation can be granted instantly, without any misconduct being blamed on them ”.
