New traffic lights for bicycles in Rennes -
20 Minutes
Two warning lights have been installed on traffic lights in Rennes.
Others will be installed soon.
They allow cyclists to enter more quickly while motorists stand still.
The objective is to make certain intersections deemed dangerous when the various means of transport are restarted.
There are those who hesitate, those who still stop and those who forge ahead.
For almost three months, a small flashing orange light has appeared on the traffic light pole at the corner of Avenue Janvier and the Zola platforms.
When it flashes, it allows cyclists to pass, while the light remains red for motorists and scooters.
Already tested in Nantes for crossing tram tracks, this “early warning light” device is already widely used in certain European cities but still remains confidential in France.
If it is easily identifiable with its bicycle logo, few people know that it exists in Rennes.
The proof, since its installation on November 24, not a title of the local press had evoked it (
20 Minutes
including!).
“The regulations have allowed it for a while,” recalls Valérie Faucheux, Rennes city councilor in charge of mobility.
The elected ecologist justifies this choice by "the need to secure certain crossroads".
"By allowing cyclists to engage more quickly, we make them more visible and we limit the phenomenon of blind spots", explains the elected.
"It's a constraint at the start, but it secures everyone"
For now, only two early warning lights have been installed on this same busy crossroads in the Breton capital.
At this point, motorists are forced to turn either right or left, and must give priority to cyclists arriving on the cycle lane located in their blind spot.
Conflicts are frequent and it is difficult to blame such or such behavior as the accommodations are the cause of these problems.
Since the end of November, motorists have to wait twenty seconds longer at each of the red lights, before seeing it turn green.
An effort ?
“It's a constraint at the start but in the end, it doesn't really change the waiting time.
When they advance at the same time as the cyclists, they must let them pass.
This system secures everyone: motorists, cyclists, pedestrians ”, promises the elected ecologist.
Two warning lights reserved for cyclists have been installed on a Rennes crossroads.
It gives priority to bikes to restart.
- C. Allain / 20 Minutes
Eventually, new Rennes intersections could be equipped with these same early warning lights.
The crossroads between rue d'Isly and boulevard de la Liberté should be the next endowed, allowing the many cyclists to make their way towards the city center without fear that a vehicle will cut their road by turning right.
“We have seen a strong increase in cycling in recent months.
All the studies show it.
But not all users are
bike
warriors
.
Not everyone is seasoned to deal with automobile traffic.
It is absolutely necessary to secure the practice, to reassure, to bring the population to the bicycle ”, estimates Valérie Faucheux.
In 2020, four cyclists and ten pedestrians were killed in road accidents in Ille-et-Vilaine.
This is five more than the previous year.
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The crossroads where Grace was killed in provisional development
The temporary work carried out last summer on the intersection of Boulevard de Rochester and Avenue Patton will not be changed immediately.
This is where the young cyclist Grâce Lochin died in November 2019, hung by a heavy weight.
After a year of inertia imposed by the needs of the survey, provisional adjustments were made.
It will be necessary to wait until the beginning of 2022 to see definitive work being undertaken.
The city must carry out road works to connect its heating networks to this location.
Two complaints were filed by his parents.
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