He was “the emblematic cyclist of Limoges, known to everyone for decades” writes the Véli-Vélo association, which calls for paying tribute to him next Saturday in front of Limoges town hall.
Nicknamed “the man in blue”, because he traveled by bike in overalls, the death of a septuagenarian cyclist, hit by a car on Friday evening, caused a lot of emotion in Limoges.
Call for witnesses
The accident occurred on Friday around 6:30 p.m. in Eyjeaux, a town of a thousand inhabitants near Limoges, we learned from the gendarmerie. The unhelmeted cyclist was hit by a car, which fled. Injured in the neck, the retiree died in hospital. A call for witnesses was launched to find the driver of the vehicle, but he had not yet given anything as of Sunday morning.
The victim was a 74-year-old former mason, Jean-Marc Chatard, well known to Limougeauds who saw him traveling around in overalls and boots on his bike. “Limoges is losing its emblem,” declared Charles, a restaurateur in town, at Popular in the centerthe local newspaper, which devotes a front page appeal to this accident. “You can imagine the importance of this character. He had, without having asked for anything, his Facebook page, a newspaper bearing his name. He was the Man in Blue, but I have the blues. »
“Second fatal accident in two months”
The Véli-Vélo association says it is concerned about “the increase in motorized violence against cyclists. » “This is the second fatal accident involving cyclists in two months on two km of this road, and the fourth cyclist killed in the year in Limoges Métropole. It is urgent that the Haute-Vienne department finally addresses the issue of cyclist safety and develops real cycling infrastructure along its roads. »
His death comes a little less than a month after that of a cyclist crushed by an SUV driver on October 15 in Paris, which highlighted the sometimes conflicting coexistence between bicycles and cars.
In 2023, 226 cyclists were killed on the roads of France, or 18% more than in 2019. The majority of these fatal accidents took place in rural or peri-urban areas.
