It despatched a shock by way of Paris, a metropolis striving to rework itself into one of many nice biking metropolises on the planet: a bicycle rider, crushed underneath the wheels of an SUV in a motorbike lane just some yards from La Madeleine, the landmark neoclassical church, in what prosecutors suspect was a deliberate act of highway rage.
A homicide investigation has been opened, and final week, Mayor Anne Hidalgo led the Paris Metropolis Council in a minute of silence for the bike owner, Paul Varry, a 27-year-old who was additionally a biking advocate. Ms. Hidalgo, a member of the Socialist Occasion, delivered an emotional speech during which she signaled she would proceed to roll out her famously aggressive insurance policies that purpose to drastically cut back the position of the auto in Parisian life.
“I’m actually offended,” she stated. “The long run doesn’t belong to vehicles.”
An outpouring of emotion over Mr. Varry’s Oct. 15 loss of life has put a highlight on the risks dealing with cyclists in a metropolis that has seen an explosion in bikes and biking lanes in recent times. But it surely has additionally underscored the frustrations that motorists more and more really feel in a spot that has chosen to restrict the motion, pace and parking choices of vehicles.
