After the episode of snow which crossed Franche-Comté and Doubs, the truckers present on the blocked routes were designated as culprits. A situation which caused the union OTRE Let's go together to react, which denounces a lack of coherence and lucidity.
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On Thursday, November 22, snow buried Franche-Comté and Burgundy. A large part of the roads and motorways were paralyzed during the evening and until 10 a.m. the next day. Many cars and heavy goods vehicles were blocked on the A36 motorway between Besançon and Montbéliard (in Doubs), just after the prefecture closed access.
A situation which caused the Minister of Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, to react, who declared this morning on BFM TV, “When there were traffic bans and we had heavy goods vehicles on the road, it was because the instructions were not followed.”
ALSO READ: IN PICTURES. Snow in Franche-Comté: the A36 closed, power cuts in the Jura, dozens of road accidents
“A way to point the finger at the truckers”which deplores the general secretary of OTRE Franche-Comté-Bourgogne, Blandine Tatin. “We are taken for scapegoats. Everyone does their best in the face of snow, but we are also the victims”.
The decree, put in place by the Doubs prefecture, for Blandine Tatin “was given too late, at two a.m. The traffic stop was applied from 7 p.m., there is a lack of consistency between the two times”.
Bad weather which could have been anticipated according to her, and which was anticipated by the transport companies in Franche-Comté. “Our members, they come from Haut-Doubs or Haut-Jura, they are all equipped for this kind of snowy episodes. They could have driven, but instead, we incriminate them. We are the forgotten ones in this affair, but also included in the designated culprits”explains the general secretary.
In the region, many roads are governed by the Mountain Law. A law that makes the fitting of winter or 4-season tires, snow chains or snow socks compulsory in 34 departments of France between 1is November and March 31. The Doubs department is covered by these conditions like the rest of Franche-Comté, but the A36 is not part of it.
ALSO READ: PHOTOS. 5 cm of snow in the plains, 10 on the heights: Burgundy wakes up under a pretty white carpet
Blandine Tatin “doesn’t want to give lessons”but she mentions that “the possibility of passing this road axis under this law could be a solution. I am not saying that it should be put in the South of France, but in Franche-Comté, that seems logical”. A resolution that would help “to make traffic more fluid, but also to no longer penalize local truck drivers, who are equipped for this type of situation”, explains the regional secretary of OTRE.
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