Frédéric Michel 08:05, June 22, 2022

As the holidays approach, many French people are preparing to resume long journeys.

The gendarmerie offers free training to find the right reflexes.

In Nice, bikers from the gendarmerie supervise motorcyclists wishing to find the right reflexes. 

REPORTAGE

The number of people who died in May on the roads of mainland France jumped 21% compared to 2019, the reference year before the pandemic.

For its part, the mortality of motorized two-wheeler drivers has almost doubled in three years, going from 50 to 92 deaths. Compared to May 2021, the increase is almost similar, by 73%.

In the Alpes-Maritimes, for nearly 10 years, the departmental road safety squadron, in conjunction with the prefecture, has been organizing awareness days.

Real-life exercises

About twenty sessions, called "curves and trajectories" are offered each year.

In Nice, the first workshop consists of working on your trajectory.

Supervised by motorcyclists from the gendarmerie and volunteers, around forty motorcyclists multiply the exercises throughout the day, first in a public car park, then in real situations on the road.

"When you have intersections, you have to go and see if you have been perceived. For overtaking, I put on my indicator. We insist on speed because in all accidents, very often, speed is in question. We enters a turn too quickly and to get out of it, it becomes more complicated", explains to the microphone of Europe 1 the commander of the motorized gendarmerie brigade of Nice.

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"The idea is to be able to provide a requesting public with the good practices of motorcyclists from the gendarmerie", continues the commander of the road safety squadron of the Alpes-Maritimes.

"In our Alpes-Maritimes department, in the area guarded by the national gendarmerie, two out of three accidents involve a motorized two-wheeler. In almost three-quarters of cases, motorized two-wheelers are responsible for the accident in which they are involved," he explains. 

Yassine passed his motorcycle license a few years ago.

"It's always good to have a little reminder on the trajectories, on the positioning of the bike. These are a lot of notions that are perhaps forgotten today", he laments at the microphone of Europe 1. Every year in Nice, 400 two-wheeled enthusiasts benefit from the advice of bikers from the gendarmerie.