Perhaps you have seen nests blooming on the roads of France in recent hours. Like every year, at Easter, the French Federation of Angry Bikers (FFMC) and the Mutuelle des motards invited bikers to drop chocolate eggs in the potholes they cross on their way.
But this year, the festival of bells falls in the middle of the campaign between the two presidential rounds: the opportunity for these two structures to challenge the candidates on the state of the roads in France. Because it’s urgent. In March, the Court of Auditors pointed out, in an alarming report, the poor maintenance of the roads, and recommended investing more and reorganizing the road policy. Already in 2019, a study by the World Economic Forum indicated that France had gone from 1st to 18th place in the world in eight years on the state of the roads, note the FFMC and the Mutuelle des motards.
It is not “a secondary or derisory subject”
For the FFMC and the Mutuelle des motards, today, “the state of the roads in France is not a secondary or derisory subject, despite tragic and more than anxiety-provoking news. Hundreds of lives, thousands of accidents and bodily and material damages can be avoided each year if the State and the public authorities concerned consider this subject at the top of their priorities. The intensification of traffic and the diversification of means of transport are straining the roads, which are still sorely lacking in maintenance. »
Jean-Luc Vrignaud, coordinator at the FFMC of Hérault, regrets that we hear about repression, but never, or almost, about improving the road network. In Emmanuel Macron’s program, nothing is planned for the improvement of roads. For her part, Marine Le Pen devotes a sentence to it, indicating that “to improve safety on the roads, the sovereign fund will finance infrastructure improvement works”. If the theme is of so little interest to the contenders for the Elysée, it is because “the State has completely disengaged from this, leaving it to the communities to maintain the roads, notes Jean-Luc Vrignaud. And budgets are tight. “And the municipalities, the agglomerations, the metropolises and the departments struggle.
Potholes are “very dangerous”
Although there are some exceptions. In the Hérault, for example, the department and the metropolis of Montpellier have appointed “Monsieur moto” and have “a hyper favorable listening vis-à-vis” bikers, rejoices Jean-Luc Vrignaud.
The symptom of the lack of road maintenance are the potholes, at the center of this Easter operation, which can send motorcyclists into the background. Ludovic, a biker interviewed by 20 minutes, confirms: it is “very dangerous”. “Like speed bumps,” he adds. Fortunately, for potholes, “we know the roads, and they are often marked. The associations often go on trips and mark the dangerous corners with the bomb”. It is all the more dangerous as motorists, “when they see such damage on the way, move away, so as not to damage their cars, points out Jean-Luc Vrignaud. Except that we, bikers, find them in the face. »