in Lyon, an operation to raise awareness of mutual respect between motorists and cyclists

Tuesday, November 19, the Paris Council will observe a minute of silence in tribute to Paul Varry, a 27-year-old cyclist who was crushed to death by a motorist in October. Tensions are a reality for cyclists who use the bike daily. Cities must be planned correctly to reduce conflicts, say associations such as La Ville à vélo, in Lyon, which organizes actions on public roads.

That evening, it was about distributing bicycle lights, in Caluire, just outside Lyon, at a particularly uncomfortable intersection. “Cyclists must make their way here, describes Philippe Blanc, volunteer at La Ville à vélo. It's extremely difficult because there are also a lot of pedestrians going to take the metro. We have a width of about two meters, not even that, where everyone has to live together.” “It's a bit of a traffic jam for bikes, especially in the morning. We pay attention to everything, we look to the right, to the left, to the left, to the right”, says a young mother on foot, who is never quite at peace.

The association regularly takes the pulse of pedestrians and cyclists. “The track is not flat enough, which means that there is a risk that a truck, for example, will hit us,” explains a participant.

In the Lyon metropolitan area, the use of two-wheelers has exploded since 2019, with an increase in bicycle traffic of more than 60%. “During Covid, I no longer wanted to take the metro, says LouiseI took my bike and I've been there ever since. But we are not well seen by motorists in general. These are little insults, little passages not respected. And then there are cargo bikes, there are electric bikes, there are more and more of them. It sure causes tension, even with pedestrians.” Alix admits she loses her temper from time to time, it happens to her “sometimes I bang on the hood, because it goes away on its own and I don't necessarily think about what the driver's reaction might be behind it.”

“For the moment, things are going well, but we are never safe from things getting out of hand, like in Paris or elsewhere.”

Alix, cyclist

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“The other time, I almost got hit by a car that cut me off. It’s annoying”adds the cyclist. And to avoid tensions, everything is in the layout, assures Pascal Genevois, of La Ville à vélo. “It's completely linked, there's no doubt, he assures. As long as there is space and the rules are well thought out, there should be no conflict.”

Overall, the association believes that infrastructure is improving and car speeds have been lowered to 30 km/h throughout Lyon. As a result, there are fewer accidents: eight pedestrians and five cyclists have been killed since the start of the year in the Rhône. There are of course no statistics on verbal skirmishes between users.