After 41 days of strike on public transport, getting around the capital is like a test of survival, where everything is allowed. While metros and RERs are still far from their normal service, on the road, courtesy and respect for the Highway Code seem to belong to another era. With record traffic jams, accumulated stress and fatigue, many users are free from basic rules in a “everyone for themselves” atmosphere.
Things seen and heard on the street
A 4 x 4 on the bike path. Monday, 9:30 am, at the corner of Pont Alexandre-III (7th). A lady, alone in her 4 x 4, sits in the middle of the cycle path. " I did not see ! She pleads, surrounded by cyclists forced to bypass her.
A heavyweight in the middle of the crossroads. Pont Royal (Paris, I), Friday, 7 p.m. A truck goes through the red light and paralyzes the crossroads. Cars, pedestrians, bikes: everyone is blocked. Insults flare with the driver.
Kicks in the opposite direction. It is 5 pm Tuesday. A scooter descends on the cobblestones of the Place du Colonel-Fabien (19th century) and advances on the boulevard de la Villette in Contresens. "But you're crazy! Says a motorist.
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Scooters and bikes: it's war. Rue La Fayette, Friday morning. A scooter climbs onto the sidewalk and then rides on the cycle path in the opposite direction. An altercation breaks out. "Get out!" Shouts a cyclist.
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Indelicate cyclists. Boulevard de Sébastopol, at evening rush hour. The cycle path is crowded with people. A hurried cyclist tries to overtake the long peloton, disregarding the safety of others. Arrived at the pedestrian crossing, the indelicate "sinks into the pile" and forces the walkers to mark time.
" Pushes you ! ". Place de la Bastille, 6.30 p.m., Thursday. Here, the arrival of bikes and other two-wheelers adds to the grand bazaar created by the ongoing redevelopment of the square. Cyclists find themselves trapped in the huge rush hour rush. Rather than going around, a little lady in glasses, duly helmeted, dismounts, and, irritated, hits the rear of the van several times which prevents her from cutting the roundabout. She came across a nice guy. The driver advances half a meter to let it pass.
"Walk straight!" ". Since the start of the strike, Parisians and commuters have rediscovered the practice of walking. But occasional pedestrians are not always aware that, like the Highway Code, they must respect an unwritten “sidewalk code”. "It takes me 30 minutes to go from home to work," explains Frédéric, walking at a brisk pace. One morning, I came into a guy who had just made me a fishtail and I almost found myself on the ground with him. His reaction ? "You could be careful! "
What are cyclists
Others say nothing pic.twitter.com/KnhwwGoi3R
"Getting excited about transport, a very urban practice"
How did we arrive at such a climate of hostility? Pierre Zembri, director of the City, Mobility and Transport Laboratory (LVMT) explains the origin of our annoyance when traveling.
How to explain that one becomes aggressive in transport? When we move, we are like in a bubble. We hide behind our headphones, we sing loudly in the passenger compartment of our car or we immerse ourselves in our newspaper in the metro. Except that we are constantly disturbed by elements that force us to get out: we must stop reading to let a person get off the train, brake urgently because a pedestrian is tumbling down, change route because 'there is a traffic jam. These unforeseen events create frustration ...
Why is this frustration manifested in violence? We have to absorb a large amount of irritants: we are compressed, it is hot, we are late ... These irritants are evacuated by hostility and brutality when we feel in danger. We notice with social networks that society is more and more violent. This is the case in big cities where anonymity drops filters. It is very urban to get excited about transport.
How to explain that a pedestrian can adopt the behavior of a motorist, whom he nevertheless criticized, when he puts himself at the wheel? We are in the order of reflex fueled by a feeling of insecurity which allows us to be in total bad faith, it is human and universal. What a pedestrian reproaches a motorist, he will easily reproduce once behind the wheel. To this is added a cultural dimension: one constantly has the impression that others are not playing the game.
Are there solutions to lower the tension in public spaces? Not to my knowledge, except to play down. Some train drivers manage to do this by making jokes. It never hurts. The goal is to make the bubble in which we are engulfed permeable and make us understand that we live in a shared space.