SUV driver charged with murder of a cyclist in Paris

[EB]

“On Friday afternoon, a 52-year-old driver was charged with murder in relation to the shocking incident, which according to witnesses and the local police saw the motorist deliberately drive over 27-year-old cyclist Paul Varry, crushing him to death, after the cyclist had banged on his Mercedes SUV when the driver had veered into an unprotected cycle lane, driving over the rider’s foot.”

https://road.cc/content/news/france-...-driver-310841

https://www.france24.com/en/live-new...g-over-cyclist

Honestly - it’s horrifying - but it is just an exaggerated version of the kind of blind driver road rage I have witnessed many times. This is why you never, ever, ever talk back to a driver - even when they drive over your foot.

[Tychom]

Being here and cycling most days, not just myself but with family, it's really quite shocking.

Someone posted a video from the location where it occurred a day later over on Instagram.

I think it's worth watching to get not only a sense of what happened - the vehicle travelling down the cycle lane - but to actually see the same things happen three more times in the two minutes the video runs, barely missing the person taking the video. Absolutely maddening.

You can see the police at the junction too, doing nothing at all.

[edit] just got home and time to read the article, see that the video is linked there already

[verticaldoug]

Thanks for that instagram link. Wow


From Swiss friend in France-

It's a big topic all over France. People / cyclists participated in memorial gatherings over the weekend.

I think that countries have two choices: either the build segregated cycle lanes, as most countries do, or they change responsibilities in that motorists are culpable by default and they have to explain to the judge how they could possibly hit a cyclist, as Spain does. I prefer the latter approach. Cycle lanes are very dangerous and waste of money and space. Cars have to accept that outside motorways they have to slow down and to watch out.

[ChainNoise]

Originally Posted by verticaldoug

Cars have to accept that outside motorways they have to slow down and to watch out.

Wait, you're telling me they have to think about more than just themselves? I know this is a discussion about France, but that **** won't ever stick here in America!

[randomduck]

Originally Posted by ChainNoise

Wait, you're telling me they have to think about more than just themselves? I know this is a discussion about France, but that **** won't ever stick here in America!

Once we as a society in the U.S., accept the fact that operating a motor vehicle is a privilege and not a right then there's a chance of course correction.

Until then: perhaps some penalties with actual teeth for things like speeding. Automated traffic enforcement cameras are mostly set at a +11 mph leeway, which is simply asinine. Compare that to many EU regulations for the things that have, at most, a 2-3 km/h leeway and you realize that they take driving a lot more seriously and recognize the consequences of bad actor behavior there than here in the States.

Face it: the U.S. was sold a bill of goods with regard to cars and car culture. And as we've been on this bandwagon for multiple generations it will take a massive cultural shift to make things better. Kudos and appreciation for those who are working hard to build safe, protected, and connected bike/micromobility infrastructure; to those working to create more deterrent traffic enforcement laws; to those working to make driver education include a mandatory bicycling component; and to those working to make renewal or transfer-of-jurisdictions of driving licenses require re-taking the written test.

[benb]

I think we're incredibly far from either the general public, the police, or any significant presence actually waking up to the idea we don't have to be completely beholden to the car industry from birth to death to go anywhere.

We probably have a better chance of a constitutional amendment to make it a right to bear motor vehicles than we do of going the other way.

The amazing thing is it started out the other way and the auto industry managed to get all the laws changed. For example you used to have the right to walk in the road, it was only once drivers started mowing pedestrians that they wrote the laws that pedestrians have to walk on the side of the road or on the sidewalk!

[EB]

Getting back to France, I'd be curious to hear from our local members how Anne Hidalgo's transformation of the city for cyclists has been received. From a distance, it looks like exactly what is needed, but there is an undercurrent of conflict in this road rage murder, and I am wondering how the city is handling it all culturally.

[Tychom]

Too late for me to write something long, but it's complicated, it's not just about bikes and bike lanes, but also about removing cars from the streets, for reduced noise and air pollution, regaining the streets for people to walk, set up terraces.

There is quite a divide which always seems to show in a similar way to this:



This shows the results when asked about imposing tarifs on SUVs in the city. The west side voted heavily against it - this is the rich side of town, lots of old money, lots of car owning households and higher car usage.

But only 35% of homes own a car in Paris in comparison to iirc 85% nationally. And it's been dropping.

The majority, and it's slight, and area dependent do seem happy with the way things are going, but there's a pretty sharp divide.

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by benb

The amazing thing is it started out the other way and the auto industry managed to get all the laws changed. For example you used to have the right to walk in the road, it was only once drivers started mowing pedestrians that they wrote the laws that pedestrians have to walk on the side of the road or on the sidewalk!

I've posted this before, it's an excellent 99% Invisible story about the history of the automobile and its impact; entertaining and informative.

https://99percentinvisible.org/episo...modern-moloch/

[572cv]

Originally Posted by verticaldoug

Thanks for that instagram link. Wow


From Swiss friend in France-

It's a big topic all over France. People / cyclists participated in memorial gatherings over the weekend.

I think that countries have two choices: either the build segregated cycle lanes, as most countries do, or they change responsibilities in that motorists are culpable by default and they have to explain to the judge how they could possibly hit a cyclist, as Spain does. I prefer the latter approach. Cycle lanes are very dangerous and waste of money and space. Cars have to accept that outside motorways they have to slow down and to watch out.

It has been my understanding that France already has road use laws that say: if a user of a road ( e.g. vehicle) strikes a more vulnerable user of the road ( e.g. pedestrian, runner, cyclist, horseback rider ) the user driving is automatically guilty unless he/she can prove otherwise. Possible within napoleonic code. I have never cycled in Paris, but much of the south and west, and have almost never had anything but great courtesy from drivers, even from truckers.

Which makes this senseless crime even more incomprehensible.

[9tubes]

What would Bernie do?

Screenshot 2024-10-21 at 6.45.34 PM.jpg

[ColonelJLloyd]

Really? Talk about tone deaf. A kid was murdered.

[redir]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

I've posted this before, it's an excellent 99% Invisible story about the history of the automobile and its impact; entertaining and informative.

https://99percentinvisible.org/episo...modern-moloch/

That's very interesting. It for some reason reminded me of poem written by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney in which the last line is one of the most powerful gut punches ever. Innocence taken away by the automobile.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poe...mid-term-break

It's a terrible thing to happen to a such a young man. Long jail sentence is indeed warranted.