French Biker Protests.

When it comes to protests there are great differences between The Brits and our biker cousins across the Channel.

If something bugs us (like the New Bike Test Fiasco for example) we write an angry letter, and ‘We Huff and We Puff’ but we never manage to blow the house down!

Now for the French….  A transport minister recently tried to impose a ban on bikers filtering in France.  He stated that they should stay in their position in the queue, like everyone else.  He went on to say, ‘If the bikers don’t like it they can use the Metro (Paris Underground Train System).

So the French Biker group, Francaise des Motards en Colere (Angry French Biker Association) responded with a very well organised protest.

Thousands of bikes across the country, (10,000 in Paris alone) took to the streets and were briefed to ride in the centre of their lane and the correct following distance from the vehicle ahead – effectively taking up the space of a car.  No filtering, no overtaking but following in the queue as the Transport Minister wanted.

The result was the Paris Ring Road, the peripherique was left devoid of cars!  They couldn’t join the flow as the road was completely taken up by bikes.  Paris was encircled and completely cut off!

And whilst this was going on above ground, thousands of bikers, in full bike gear, took to the Metro, like the Minister recommended and completely swamped it.

The bikers action was supported by the Police and Parisian car drivers hooted their support,  as they quickly got the message that if the bikers were not allowed to filter then the transport system would grind to a halt.

One of the main reasons why bikes reduce congestion and therefore pollution is by their ability to ease the flow of traffic and keep the road systems moving. Taking up less road space, quicker journeys and less parking space.

Stop this and you stop everything.

However, when it comes to filtering, there is filtering and then there is French Filtering!  Whilst French motorists do seem to be far more biker aware and biker friendly than our home grown drivers, the bikers can create some bad impressions by the antics that many carry out in the way that they filter and the speeds that they do it.

Filtering does have a place in any modern transport plan but let’s not spoil it for ourselves. Keep it safe and sensible and most car drivers won’t even know that you’ve gone past them!

To see videos of the French protest take a visit to You Tube and search French Biker Protest.