A little scenario is sometimes better than a long speech: this Wednesday Keolis, the delegate responsible for managing the Bisontin bus and tram network, installed one of its buses on the Place de la Révolution. The objective: to allow users to sit in the driver’s seat and measure for themselves the importance of blind spots. Silhouettes representing pedestrians and cyclists had been placed all around the vehicle. Huge silhouettes. However, it is impossible to see them in the mirrors, once seated behind the wheel. “It’s shocking,” summed up Adam, a 13-year-old boy, surprised to discover everything hidden from view by bus drivers.
This awareness-raising operation is part of a broader campaign, aimed at the general public. The idea: remind people of the rules while avoiding “repressive and/or moralizing speeches”. Result: visuals featuring a man called “Max” who “sometimes lacks attention and vigilance” and who “does not always respect road signs”.
Because, Keolis points out, incidents and accidents recorded on the network are very often the result of the behavior of third parties. Regarding the tram, again according to the delegate, “98% of accidents are due to non-compliance with safety rules” by motorists, pedestrians and cyclists, who run red lights, cross without looking or even forget that a tram can hide another. Or 19 collisions in 2024.
Below the national average
In total, in 2024, 230 incidents and accidents were recorded on the network. 28 for the tram (which accumulates more than a million kilometers per year, underlines Laurent Sénécat, the general director of Keolis Besançon), 202 for the bus (i.e. one accident every 22,700 km).
230 is more than in 2023 – an “exceptional” year according to Keolis – but it is still “far below the national average”, underlines Laurent Sénécat.
The general director of Keolis emphasizes above all that, behind the incidents and accidents recorded, there are also all the accidents avoided, i.e. “nearly 200 each year” regarding the tram. Non-events for careless pedestrians-cyclists-motorists who nevertheless leave traces. Because emergency braking, while it helps avoid a collision, can lead to falls inside buses and trams and therefore injuries. Cases on the rise, i.e., in 2024, 44 falls recorded on the network (35 on buses, 9 on trams).
-Collisions avoided also leave their mark on the minds of drivers. Laurent, who testifies in one of the videos posted online on the Ginko website, is not about to forget the time when a pedestrian suddenly crossed “not even a meter from her bus”: “I had to apply the brake, very very very hard”. Result: several injured in his vehicle.
Dramas narrowly avoided
Fatal accidents are rare (two in the last ten years across the entire network) but drivers all have in mind a situation that could have turned into a real tragedy. One of them recounts the collision at 40 km/h with a person on a scooter who, hidden until the last moment by another tram, had crossed in front of his train. The victim finally regained consciousness but the driver still remembers his body lying there and motionless.
“Each incident is subject to detailed analysis,” emphasizes Keolis Besançon. And the drivers are all “trained to anticipate as best as possible” the different situations. All that remains is to raise awareness among other road users. Two other days of action are planned: January 28 at the “Republic crossroads” and January 30 in Chamars.
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