He owes his still limping gait to the leap he had to make, last week, to avoid a motorist passing too fast, too close, and in the wrong direction, while crossing the pedestrian crossing near his little rue Adolphe- Focillon, in Paris (14th).
It was one more incident, one too many incident that decided Jean-Louis Perrier to seize the mayor of the 14th arrondissement, Carine Petit, and especially David Belliard, deputy (EELV) to the mayor of Paris in charge of " transformation of public space ”and of the“ street and highways code ”.
And it is indeed a matter of code, among other aspects, which crystallizes the fed up of this inhabitant and more and more residents of the peaceful little Sarrette district, between Alésia and avenue du Général-Leclerc.
One of the first "green districts", to use the terminology of twenty years ago, when the traffic pattern was redesigned to save it from the flow of cars and "strengthen the residential and convivial character of neighborhoods ”, in the words of the transport assistant at the time, Denis Baupin.
10 meters of prohibited directions sprayed
"The objective was to reduce traffic there in favor of non-polluting modes of transport and to develop vegetation there", recalls Jean-Louis Perrier, who has lived for nearly 20 years in this peaceful and residential area.
“A village,” he smiles wistfully.
Here there are a lot of young people and a lot of old people, schools, small shops, small streets… ”At the beginning of the 2000s, the cut in the direction of traffic on rue Sarrette had this protective effect,“ cars not being able to take it from one end to the other, they circumvented our triangle ”, he confirms.
Yes, but here it is, 20 years later, Paris' “all-bike” ambitions and the progress of satellite geolocation have changed the situation.
The pandemic and its new traffic restriction measures have not helped.
“Traffic on avenue du Général-Leclerc was reduced to one lane to make way for cyclists and public transport, then rue d'Alésia was made a one-way street… It was undoubtedly for a good cause, except that reality quickly caught up with these limitations, thanks to driver assistance applications!
"
An alternative route recommended by the apps
This is the perverse effect of these apps, whose good deals end up installing flows, and even creating traffic jams.
“We empty the avenue du Général-Leclerc but it is our neighborhood that is toasting.
The calculated substitution routes send motorists into our small streets and drivers do not hesitate to take the one-way sections of rue Sarrette, over 10 meters in each direction, to cross and retrieve the small narrow transverse streets!
», Says Jean-Louis Perrier.
Since he sent his letter to the mayor of the 14th arrondissement, "there is sometimes a police patrol at the crossroads, at least that dissuades motorists from taking the prohibited direction, but on a daily basis that does not change anything".
At certain times, its windows look out "on a fast lane rather than a quiet little street."
In the morning around 8:30 am, it is trucks, cars, vehicles that should not arrive here, and rush without paying attention to children, the elderly and cyclists who have the right to circulate in both directions.
"
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According to the residents, whom Jean-Louis Perrier associated with his approach, this gymkhana, which has lasted for over a year, is settling into a normality that they refuse.
"This mad traffic is causing a consequent degradation of our quality of life, what measures will you take to return to the previous situation?
», They ask the mayor.
"We are going to study the different options to improve the situation of the inhabitants of this 14th street, with the services of the City of Paris and the 14th district town hall," promises David Belliard, transport assistant to Anne Hidalgo ( PS).
