Bikers : a "green light" is in sight

Few by few, cycles are becoming, not queens of the streets but at least heirs. After Angers town hall lowered the maximum speed from 50 km/h to 30 km/h all over the city, road signs have been set up during the last weeks on traffic lights which authorize the bikers to turn right even if the signal is red. Most of those road signs are currently hiden by large strips of black sellotape but some of them have already been removed, and not necessarily by bikers.

The decrease of parking lots, the increase of fares in car parks with the new speed limit and now the new ease given to bikers indicate the will of Angers to master the number of vehicles crossing the city and, consecuently, the control of expenses dedicated to facilities for cars as well as the air quality. But, such a trend may generate new demands from cyclists.

The first of those could be the safety. A terrible accident which occured a few months ago near the roundabout at the bottom of Kennedy square, highlighted the necessity to revise the traffic rules and the layout of intersections in the city for security reasons. But, the main evolution to get is in the minds of cyclists and car drivers. Bikes are vehicles. That should force many car and bus drivers (who problably never use a bike), but also bikers themselves, to be more scrupulous : drivers for bikers, and bikers for pedestrians. Distinct lanes would sure be helpful.