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 on Sunday morning, according to the gendarmes. 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.
“The Man in Blue”
“Limoges is losing its emblem,” declared Charles, a restaurateur in town, to “Populaire du center”, the local newspaper. “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. »
“He was the emblematic cyclist of Limoges, known to everyone for decades. We mourn the memory of the man and the symbol he represented,” said the Véli-Vélo association in a press release, which called for paying tribute to him next Saturday in front of the Limoges town hall.
“We are concerned about the increase in motorized violence against cyclists. This is the 2nd fatal accident involving cyclists in 2 months on 2 km of this road, and the 4th cyclist killed in one year in Limoges Métropole”, adds the association which calls on the Department to develop “real cycling infrastructure along the its roads.”
