Last week, in Limoges, a cyclist was hit by a vehicle which did not stop. The death of the man, known in the city, sparked a wave of emotion.
Nearly 300 people marched, dressed in blue, on Saturday in Limoges to pay tribute to the “man in blue”, a septuagenarian cyclist fatally hit by a car last week.
An emblematic figure of the city, Jean-Marc Chatard, 74, had been traveling the roads of the department for years, dressed in his overalls and rubber boots. On November 8, this former mason and farmer died from his injuries after being hit by a car on a local road that he used to take to return home.
“The soul of our city”
“His overalls, his rubber boots and especially his bicycle were his everyday companions. He was a unique and loved person in Limoges, even if he was never fully aware of it. His simplicity, his smiles were part of the soul of our city”declared his great-niece Mathilde Lavergne.
He was so popular that in 2020, a pastry shop garnished its Epiphany king cakes with a bean bearing his image and a website which listed good addresses also bore his nickname. After his death, the facade of the Limoges town hall was adorned with blue at night.
“I saw him for the first time when I was fifteen, he came to buy soles in the store I worked in at the time”recounted Josiane, a sixty-year-old dressed in overalls for the occasion.
Conflicting cohabitation between bicycles and motorists
Coming to the call of the Véli Vélo association, other participants deplored the “cruel lack” facilities for cyclists. “Even if cycle paths have emerged in Limoges, some remain impassable“, deplore Richard and Jacques. The death of Jean-Marc Chatard, after that of a cyclist crushed by an SUV driver on October 15 in Paris, has shed light on the sometimes conflicting cohabitation between bicycles and cars.
The septuagenarian says he confused it with an animal
Two days after the accident, a 76-year-old man presented himself spontaneously to the gendarmerie. Automatically placed in police custody, as provided for in the procedure, the septuagenarian admitted to having hit something. But, he defended himself, this departmental road is no longer lit and in the past he had already hit an animal on this same road. So this Friday evening, he continued on his way. When he arrived home, he said he noticed the damage on his rearview mirror. It was only the next day, when he heard about the call for witnesses launched by the gendarmes in the press, that he made the connection and therefore decided to report to the police.
With no criminal record, the man was released. The preliminary investigation continues for manslaughter and hit-and-run.
