A raw testimony to the multiplication of road violence, which occurs both on Parisian boulevards and on country roads.
In recent days, the video of an outburst of violence from a road driver towards a cyclist has been controversial on social networks and in the press.
The accident and the attack took place on January 11 on a small road in Semussac, near Royan (Charente-Maritime).
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The truck deliberately fishtails the cyclist who, taken towards the ditch, is overturned and falls heavily.
The truck stops and two men get out, including the driver who vociferates: “
What are you doing to me here?
What is it to give me a sign of what just now?
“, in reference to an exchange a few moments before, where the cyclist had signaled to him to brake.
“
Do you realize how fast…
” the latter begins to reply, before taking a blow in the face.
Violence and insults then follow from the driver.
The camera would then have stopped turning, broken.
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Medically taken care of, the victim had a broken nose, cut ears, bruises on the face and a serious fracture of the finger, causing a temporary incapacity for work (ITT) of 30 days.
A balance sheet which could have been much more serious, according to the interested party who underlines the speed of the trucker during the attack.
The attackers, a 51-year-old man and his 17-year-old son, heard by investigators after the filing of a complaint, were released and await trial in June.
They are being prosecuted for intentional violence with ITT for more than 8 days in a meeting with a weapon by destination.
Rise of intolerances
With
Sud-Ouest
, Teodoro Bartuccio, president of the "
Mon Vélo est une vie
" association, talks about the increasingly frequent attacks on cyclists: "
I created the association in 2017 because I had lost friends along the way.
We are here to raise the awareness of road users, politicians and justice.
There is a rise in intolerances.
More and more cyclists are afraid to go on the road.
They put a GoPro to film, otherwise, it's word against word.
This scenario, with this victim, we want it to serve as a lesson
, ”he hopes.
In
Le Parisien
, the man underlines shortcomings in French law in this area: intentional violence is less heavily punished than accidents.
The lawyer Michel Benezra explains it in
Le Parisien
: “
Take a motorist who mows down a cyclist by accident, he risks ten years of maximum imprisonment, a penalty which is never applied.
As an additional penalty, he will take ten years of license suspension.
On the other hand, in the case where the driver ran into the cyclist who lost his life, without the intention of killing him, he certainly incurs in theory up to twenty years in prison - this is also never pronounced -, but only five years of license suspension
”.
