French filtering chaos
Thousands of motorcyclists protest to save their right to filter (which they never actually had in the first place). Tres bien.
The French Government have commissioned a study into the safety of filtering after 12,000 Parisian motorcyclists protested against a possible ban… that already existed.
The episode has more than a whiff of farce about it, as the protests were triggered by a study into filtering which, almost in passing, reminded everyone that the practice was against the law. The mainstream French press then shouted about filtering being banned (which it was) and the motorcycle groups felt obliged to react, just in case the police were tempted to start enforcing it (which they don’t). To add another level of confusion, the Government study which kicked it all off has been shown to be flawed. It found that there were 12 percent more crashes in one area where the organisers had made filtering legal than in a control where filtering was banned. But the study didn’t take into account a dramatic rise in motorcycle usage during that time. Also, the vast majority of French riders filter anyway, so the study wasn’t comparing filtering and non-filtering roads. ‘The main problem was the government press release,’ says Didier Renoux, from the excellently named Federation of Angry Bikers, who organised the protest. ‘It said that the practice was illegal and the press just printed that. But it always has been! The police have always let us do it because it is safe and logical.’
A new three year study will start in June and if the results show that there is no significant risk to sensible filtering then the law will be changed so that everyone can legally do what they’re doing anyway. We love the French.