On the banks of the Canal du Midi, in Toulouse, April 8, 2021. – B. Colin – 20 Minutes
- With the return of sunny days, cohabitation between two-wheelers and walkers is proving difficult in the Pink City.
- For greater safety, an association for the defense of pedestrians demands that the banks of the Canal and the dikes of the Garonne be prohibited for bicycles.
- The town hall does not want to come to this end but it calls on cyclists to make way for pedestrians, at least on weekends.
Between the return of sunny days and the understandable desire to free oneself from sanitary constraints, in Toulouse, the banks of the Canal du Midi and the dikes of the Garonne are teeming with people. But this breathing is accompanied by a rather unprecedented controversy between pedestrians and cyclists. It is Richard Mébaoudj, the president of the association 60 millions of pedestrians 31, who puts his feet in the dish. He is fed up with seeing bicycles tumbling down to the ground, with no regard for the safety of the walkers.
“For the fragile public, the old ones or the families, it has become impossible to walk serenely,” he loses his temper. You can’t be stressed every time you walk! “. In addition to his own experience, the Toulousain takes as proof of his legitimate concern a video posted on April 2 on Facebook by the cyclists themselves, the association 2pieds2roues more precisely, where we see cyclists slalom, quickly, between joggers at the edge of the Canal.
Who is the adversary?
To resolve this conflict, and in the name of “conviviality”, Richard Mébaoudj proposes a rather radical solution: “Reserve, during the day and in urbanized areas, the banks of the Canal and the dikes of the Garonne for pedestrians”.
A requirement which is obviously not really to the liking of cyclists. “It’s totally counterproductive”, retorts Boris Kozlow, the president of 2pieds2roues, slipping in passing that his association has been fighting “for forty years for bicycles AND pedestrians”. The activist recognizes that there are “problems of cohabitation” on the tracks on the bank “full of bumps which oblige to zigzag”. But for him, Richard Mébaoudj has the wrong opponent: “What is needed at the edge of the Canal and we have been asking for a long time from the town hall and the metropolis, is to remove certain traffic lanes to reserve them for bicycles” .
A call to pedal elsewhere on weekends
At the Capitol, Philippe Perrin, the elected official in charge of traffic and new mobility, shares the findings of the two “camps”. That of Richard Mabaoujd first, in this season when the returns from work temporarily coincide with the desire to stroll. “I am shocked by the videos,” he says. We see people driving like crazy as if they were in a hurry, this is not a normal attitude ”. But the former astronaut believes more in good citizenship and “respect” than in restrictions on freedom. He therefore calls, almost solemnly, cyclists “to get out of Toulouse on weekends”, the agglomeration offering enough opportunities to pedal quietly.
Philippe Perrin also joined 2pieds2roues on the necessary development of the roads, even if it will necessarily take time. For the Canal, in “tactical town planning” mode, it announces an upcoming consultation with residents of Boulevard Montplaisir. The idea would be to pass it in a one-way street to free up a lane for bikes. “The bicycle development of the avenue de l’URSS, a route to relieve the canal to reach the Rangueil scientific campus, is also one of our priorities and must take place next year,” he adds. The tracks on the banks between the central police station and the station will also be leveled.