What is véLo228, the association which takes legal action to advance the cause of Cycling in communities

The LAURE law is 30 years old. But for the VéLo288 association, represented in Finistère, it is clear that it is difficult to apply. It requires Cycling arrangements when there are road repairs or creations. Brandishing article 288, the association uses legal weapons to push municipalities to respect it.

When they are not on their proud steeds, members of the véLo228 association often have their noses in the newspaper. And not just to admire the cyclists' performances… They scrutinize announcements of development work in towns and cities.

“And thensays Emmanuel Bejarano, spokesperson for the association for Finistère, we send a short letter to the town hall. Because the LAURE law is often ignored or deliberately ignored.”

“During renovations of urban roads (…) cycle routes must be developed with facilities in the form of paths, cycle lanes, greenways, meeting areas or (… ) markings on the ground, depending on traffic needs and constraints”, specifically states section 228 of the law.

But elected officials sometimes have difficulty implementing it. “So, when we don't have a response, we send a registered letter, a free remedy. We ask the municipality how it intends to comply with the text. And if that is not enough, we turn to the administrative court to file a dispute. And there, things often change.” REMARK Emmanuel Bejarano. The court invites the parties to mediation and the work is done…

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This is what happened in Brasparts in Finistère. The association criticized the town hall for having carried out work in the town, without providing for such “arrangements“cyclable while the environmental code requires it.

Mayor Anne Rolland and her municipal council finally engaged in a procedure of “mediation“when, after having ignored a first gracious appeal, the association went to litigation with the administrative court of Rennes. The municipality then undertook to create “a large meeting area” for cyclists.

Of the “threshold effects” and “alternating traffic zones over a few tens of meters” had thus been planned around the “meeting area”integrated into a “zone 30″. Facilities such as “shark teethof the “planters” or even “trays” should also be put in place to “let other users know that they are in a protected area“.

The association therefore buried the hatchet and informed the Rennes administrative court that it “withdrew” of his appeal against the municipality of Brasparts.

Read: After launching the cap-shaped bicycle helmet, they want to create a foldable helmet. “We can put it in our bag.”

“Yet the climate emergency forces us to act, and quickly” hammered Emmanuel Bejarano. “The transport sector, with 41% of the total share, represents the leading source of CO2 (greenhouse gas/GHG) production in France”, indicates the association on its website.

On her page, she also recalls that “60% of trips made by car concern journeys of less than 5 km (i.e. 15 to 20 minutes by bike) and that 49% of home-work journeys of less than 1 km are made by car. However, these journeys would only take 4 minutes by bike and 15 minutes on foot.

“We need to multiply our bicycle journeys by 5 or 6 in the years to come, also pleads Emmanuel Bejarano, the facilities can help to get people on the saddle to make their daily journeys, to get bread, to take the children to school, but for this, we need secure areas for bicycles.”

Lire : Did you know? Cycling in the countryside is more dangerous than in the city

Eighteen “graceful appeal” had thus been deposited in 2023 with the municipalities of Finistère, and fifteen were at the stage of “litigation“, that is to say in the hands of the administrative court of Rennes.

The strategy Judicial Vélo 228 Finistère seems to be bearing fruit since, in addition to Brasparts, the association has also withdrawn in recent months from the appeals it had initiated against the municipalities of Kerlaz, Daoulas, Tréméoc and Penmarc'h.