“It was inevitable” for the regulars of this street considered “dangerous”

The emotion is strong and the reactions multiply after the accident between a bus and a bicycle, Tuesday January 14, rue de Châteaugiron in Rennes. In the aftermath of the choc, we learned that the cyclist struck, aged around fifty, died from his injuries. Among the many cyclists taking this axis, where work on the future section of the express bicycle network is being finalized on the other side of the road, the anger dominatesbecause everyone noticed the dangerousness of the temporary arrangement. The Rays of Action associationwhich was consulted on this development, has also received reports in recent months and days about the difficulties encountered by users in this street which connects the city center to Chantepie.

“Never been serene”

Claire lives right next to the Avia gas station, near where the accident happened, for almost three years, she has been cycling every day and claims to have never never been serene
: “The cars go very fast. »

Even at the time of the cycle lane, I was not reassured. There, there was work on the cycle path separated from the road, but it is worse for the moment. When you come from the city center and arrive at the intersection with Boulevard Paul-Hutin-Desgrées, the construction site is not finished.

Thus, the young mother must leave the cycle path upstream by taking a slight descent and resume the old cycle lane which is also the bus lane,opposite the new Ange bakery, not without taking some risks. “Typically, this morning, I was going to commit and there is a car that comes barreling down the bus lane to find a parking space on the shoulder. She walked several dozen meters like that before finding one. In the opposite direction, since the intersection is impassable, you find yourself on the bus lane and we have to cross the street right in the middle . »

This regular thus points out the dangerousness of the axis: “I don’t count the number of times motorists honk at you, hit you, brush against you because, for them, you don't have to ride there. Likewise, coming from Chantepie to go towards the Carrefour Market de La Poterie, you have no other choice than to find yourself right in the middle of the cars at the traffic light intersection. »

“On the same track as the cars and that reassures me”

Manon,
another cyclist used to the area, confirms the situation experienced by the first: “It’s extremely dangerous to cross in the middle of the street. »

So, I don't cross, I continue straight towards the city center on the same lane as the cars and that reassures me more. We are in single file for a few meters, but it is less dangerous. At least the car drivers see us.

“We are forced to set foot on the ground if we want to cross, explain Laura, cycle worker.
On this street, I prefer to stick to cars parked on the side, although elsewhere I don't do it in case someone opens their door. But, here, I prefer that rather than risking being crushed as the two lanes reserved for cars reduce into one and there are also buses which are on the same lane as us. »

People say to themselves, “It’s annoying for the bike” to want to cross. But, in fact, we just want to join the cycle path.

This other regular cyclist to go to work also observed the inconsistency of the layout put in place while waiting for the REV construction site to be completed between Rennes and Chantepie. “When I saw the design of the thing, I said to myself, 'One of these four, there will be an accident', it was inevitable. »

“The layout is not good at all”

This cyclist then indicates anticipate the crossingby moving into the left lane, but this still requires him to make the vehicles behind him understand his intention and this is not always easy. “The cars come at 50, 60 km/h or more and they don’t check their blind spots either. There are plenty of factors which mean that we must anticipate each time . »

The cycle lanes should have remained in place until everything was finished. There, the layout is not good at all. It could have been a mother with her child. Then, the coaches and buses, it must be said, travel very quickly here too. There is a lack of understanding of traffic between road users on this part.

Insufficient signage?

Arnaud, himself, made himself at least “five scares”since the start of work on the express bicycle network. “To join the new cycle path, which is ideal for cyclists, you can't access it any other way than that way . Except that you go pretty fast when you go down towards the city center and the lack of signage does not allow us to understand how to cross properly, then it seems that we have to get back on the sidewalk to cross and that is normally prohibited, so we don't go there. But now I'm going to force myself to do it. »

The same on the car side, there is no sign which allows motorists to focus their attention on the priority of pedestrians and cyclists. “In any case, as long as the work on the new cycle path is not completed, it will be dangerous,” he concludes.

“Here, people think they are in Paris”

This Wednesday, January 15 morning, the employees responsible for the workcontinue the completion of work on the cycle path at the crossroads between rue de Châteaugiron and boulevard Paul-Hutin-Desgrées. They too note the difficult cohabitation of road users: “Here people think they are in Paris, they are noisy on the road. Sometimes it's the bikes that bother us because they take paths that are not accessible, but overall bicycles, pedestrians pay attention . »

“Last week, a member contacted the BreizhGo service”

Rémi Salembier, from Rays of Action,association which represents the interests of bicycle users and pedestrians, specifies that they were consulted two years ago on this work. “We gave our opinion. From, we had feedback from users who identified this sector as too dangerous
particularly in the face of coach and bus traffic. »

Last week, we had a member who contacted the BreizhGo service to say that he had been overtaken by a bus at excessive and dangerous speed. There is little consideration for cyclists.

” The problem concerns stakingat the pedestrian crossing. The best is to ensure safety by narrowing the lanes. But this is not the case. From the moment you just put up a barrier, you have to plan a diversion. In general, we achieve this very well for motorized vehicles, less so for other users. We ask that it be secure. We want there to be global consideration of the continuity of paths during the work. »

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