Motorcyclists in the Ile de France, already confronted daily with the complete saturation of the network and the scandalous deterioration of its road infrastructure, are now subject to the 'Paris 2024' restrictions due to the Olympic Games. Let’s take stock of the situation…
Since last Monday, the reserved Olympic lanes marked “Paris 2024” have therefore been closed to them, just like to motorists, creating gigantic traffic jams despite less traffic during this holiday period. The list of these lanes, accessible only to vehicles of accredited persons, taxis, public transport vehicles, vehicles intended to promote the transport of people with reduced mobility and emergency and security vehicles, is visible here.
Using part of the 185 kilometers of these routes connecting the 26 competition sites and 25 training locations exposes you to a fourth class fine, i.e. a fine of 135 euros, reduced to 90 euros in the event of payment within 15 days. The operation, the legitimacy of which we do not judge, is generally planned from July 15 to August 13 then from August 22 to September 11, in order to cover the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games, without special schedules: the roads are closed 24 hours a day. 24 and controlled by radars reading plates on the Paris ring road!
Restrictive ? Annoying? Maybe, but it's for a good cause and we could take things more carefully if an additional measure hadn't put the lives of bikers in danger!
Instead of respecting a certain logic and granting the latter authorization to use these lanes (after all we have rarely seen motorcycles slowing down cars, even if they are full of breakers or golfers...), the prefect of Paris police Laurent Nuñez, who is responsible for these lanes during this period, explained at the end of June that motorcycles should practice interlining (experimentation in 21 departments extended until September 14 in the same zones and on the same axes than initially planned) by shifting one lane to the right, that is to say mainly between the first and second lanes.
The interfile shifts for two wheels on the Paris ring road pic.twitter.com/iYDlDUIQ1O
— BFM Paris Île-de-France (@BFMParis) June 22, 2024
We consider that this was an aberrant measure, the changes of lines being mathematically much more numerous than usual, if only by the insertion and exit of authorized vehicles in the authorized line.
This is undoubtedly what certain authorities and a Road Safety press release published on July 11 now prohibits inter-queueing on roads with a reserved lane.
“Indeed, with the Olympic and Paralympic Games, traffic will be very dense and there will be very many road shearings by large capacity vehicles on the 185 km of lanes reserved for the circulation of vehicles accredited to transport athletes, official delegations, emergency and security vehicles, taxis, ambulances or even public transport (moving as part of a public service mission) and accredited journalists.
In order to guarantee the greatest safety for motorized two-wheelers and three-wheelers, the CIF will therefore be interrupted on roads with JOP reserved lanes. »
Undoubtedly ill-informed in the face of these errors, 400 drivers were fined on the first day of putting the device into operation, with “zero tolerance” as a guideline.
Last “good” news, the reserved Olympic and Paralympic lanes should be maintained on the ring road, the A1 and the A13 eventually after the Olympic Games in 2025, in order to improve travel times for public transport and encourage carpooling. We’ll call it the “Heritage” routes…
We simply remind the authorities that not all motorcyclists have a Honda Riding Assist ESV 2.0 !
