The “difficult cohabitation between pedestrians, cyclists, scooters, taxis, delivery vehicles and buses” is the main “concern” that emerges from a citizen consultation carried out in the fall, Anne Hidalgo announced on Tuesday. at the Town Hall, during greetings to elected officials and staff. It has therefore decided to launch a “street code” for the summer of 2023 against dangerous behavior that has become commonplace in the streets of Paris, such as cyclists running through red lights or scooters on the sidewalks.
On this subject of road safety, “it’s not going well”, recognized the former presidential candidate of the PS, “we are going to solve the problems”. In February, a consultation “associating residents, experts, public and private partners” will aim to “lead to a Parisian street code” that Anne Hidalgo wants to see published in June, she said.
What about self-service scooters?
Since the health crisis and the development of the “coronapists”, bicycles, scooters, monowheels and other motorized personal transport devices (EDPM) have multiplied in the capital. The success is such that cyclists experience their first traffic jams at red lights: the narrow track of boulevard Sébastopol, one of the busiest in Europe, sets records and records up to 18,000 passages per day. With this wave, there has also been an increase in incivility which endangers users and pedestrians: failure to respect traffic lights and priorities, earphones on the ears, drunk driving, etc.
For the assistant for the transformation of public space David Belliard, interviewed by AFP, it is a question of achieving a “good cohabitation” while “protecting the most vulnerable, therefore giving priority to pedestrians”. The fight against “disorder in the streets and on the sidewalks” is also the priority set by the security assistant Nicolas Nordman for the municipal police, which must be reinforced by 1,000 new officers in 2023.
Anne Hidalgo, on the other hand, said nothing about the contract for self-service scooters, which expires in February and which her team has been threatening since September not to renew.