Re: France: Reflective vests mandatory for cyclists starting in Sept.

2008/7/3 Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory <[email protected]>:
> From www.prettyboring.com:
>
> "Fashion living (we think) legend Karl Lagerfeld put on this nifty dayglo
> vest to promote a French road safety campaign that requires all drivers and
> cyclists to carry reflective vests and a triangle. Traffic deaths in France
> was up 10% from last year, and rather than enforce speed limits or DUI laws,
> those crafty French are making everyone carry vests and triangles....
>
Since I am french, I can detail what the new law is about. It forces
every driver of a vehicle to have a vest and a triangle in its vehicle
(in case of accident or other emergency). But it does NOT apply to
two- and three-wheeled vehicle, so it does not apply to bicyles. So
bicycle organisations did not react to this.

Can we expect the french government to go further and force bike
riders to wear vests and helmets ? Well, last year, they wanted to
write a mandatory helmet law. Thanks to a campaign of the fubicy
(http://www.fubicy.org/ a federation of french bicycle organisations),
it was aborted. More recently, some member of the governement
suggested that wearing a reflecting vest should be mandatory outside
urban areas at night (which does not schock me). But he seems to have
forgotten.

But the questions might come back soon. One year after the launch of
Vélib' (the parisian name of the cyclocity's bike renting system of
JCDecaux), the number of accidents involving a bike in Paris has
increased (+21%). Of course they forget to tell that the number of
travels by bikes increased faster (betweem +30 and +40%). Until now,
they "only" verbalize more often cyclists who do not respect lights,
stops and one-way. We are careful about any law project involving
bicycles.

Camille

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