Parisian cyclists express their safety fears amid aggressive behaviour towards them as a young commuter is deliberately mown down by an SUV in central Paris
Cycle commuters around Paris are angry. Even though they have over 500km of cycle lanes at their disposal in the city, they feel unsafe because of the increasing hostility directed at them by motorists. They have had enough of the way they are treated just getting from A to B by pedal power.
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| Cyclists riding through the Marais, Paris |
There was widespread condemnation from cycling campaign groups, as well as politicians. Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo said, “It is unacceptable to die in this day and age at the age of 27 when riding a bicycle around Paris. These acts must be punished severely.”
These words offer little comfort for Paul Varry’s family or for the cycling community which feels that they have been let down by the authorities. Ironically, Paul Varry was an active member of the cycling campaign group, Paris en Selle (Paris in the saddle) and was often a spokesman at Saint-Ouen, the Parisian suburb where he lived.
At a vigil held in Paris the following day where 200 people gathered at Place de la Madeleine, a fellow member of Paris en Selle said “Today it was Paul Varry. That could have been any of us.”
Florentin Lopacinski, a 23-year old man living in Lille and Paris, who rides his bike every day describes it as being a really struggle to ride his bike. He says, “I have gotten so used to motorists beeping at me. What is the most stressful is when cars can’t overtake you they drive really close behind you and make it known to you that they’re there. Often they end up overtaking me and brush past me really closely.”
Another young man talked of how he was showered with all the insults under the sun when a motorist in a hurry is caught behind him. Meanwhile, a Parisian woman, Sybille de la Raudiere talks of people shouting sexist remarks at her, saying she shouldn’t be on the road because she’s a woman and doesn’t know how to ride a bike!
Last weekend, by way of paying tribute to Paul Varry, and also to call a stop to aggressive behaviour towards cyclists, the French Federation of Bicycle Users (FUB) invited cyclists to demonstrate in front of the town halls across France at 5.45pm on Saturday, roughly the time when the incident occurred.
“It’s time that people heard the everyday reality of how it is for we cyclists, and that action is taken to avoid another such tragedy,” said a representative of the FUB.
There were 304 gatherings of cyclists all over France - from Calais to Nice, Bordeaux to Strasbourg, including a 1,000-strong event at Place de la Republique in Paris.
This is a nationwide problem, as people feel the same lack of safety in towns across various regions in France.
According to the Interministerial National Observatory for Road Safety (ONISR) 240 cyclists were killed on French roads between in the last 12 months. This is a 10% year increase compared to the previous year, and the third consecutive year that the annual number of fatalities has surpassed 200.
In a meeting held on Monday of this week between Minister for Transport and representatives of cycling campaign groups across France, an agreement was made to look into ways to make cyclists feel less vulnerable on the roads, particularly in a country where between 20 and 30% of people use a bicycle as their principal mode of transport.
Motorists are annoyed that the number of cycle lanes in central Paris have caused further gridlock to the clogged streets and claim to be even more incensed by the number of cyclists who don’t respect the Highway Code.
Two things that strike me about this story. Firstly, this latest fatality occurred about half a mile from the route the Tour de France takes when it finally arrives in Paris. Millions of people watch the finale of this grand spectacle on television and along the road. Clearly, there’s a lot of love for cycle racing on the streets of Paris. But yet when it comes to ordinary utility cycling around Paris, there’s a lot of ire and anger.
The second thing about this is that I can’t help thinking that in the UK people talk about cyclists here getting a raw deal and not being respected or looked after on the roads. People even say that when they go abroad to places like France or Spain or Italy, cyclists are treated with a lot more respect, and bike lanes are a lot better. Well, this latest fatality in central Paris does not really prove that theory. While British visitors to Paris may comment on the vast number of cycle lanes in Central Paris, and the fact that more journeys are made by bicycle than by car nowadays in the French capital, the fact is that there is very much another side of the coin that has to be examined. London has around 360km of cycle lanes spread across 32 London boroughs. In the UK there were 87 cyclists killed on UK roads in 2023 - a 4% drop compared with the previous year.
Without wanting this to sound like a competition, it has to be said that London does not do so badly compared to Paris. If you speak to any individual from the London equivalent of Paris en Selle, London Cycling Campaign, they will have the same stories to tell of motorist aggression on the roads - though there has never been an incident of someone being deliberately mown down.
On balance, given what I have observed of what is going on in Paris, I can sadly only echo that phrase, Plus ca change…..regardless of where you go, cyclists in different cities around the world will always have the same nightmare stories to tell about cycling around a big city.
RIP Paul Varry
