New Road Safety Coordinator disapproves law for pedestrians

As published in lexpress (16th August 2015), Daniel Raymond has replied to several questions in regards to his new responsibilities as our new Road Safety Coordinator. As quoted below, he firmly stands against the introduction of new laws applicable to pedestrians:

Q : Instaurer une loi pour les piétons, est-ce une solution ?

A : Non, ça n’a pas de sens. Il n’y a aucun exemple où ça marche. Une loi doit avant tout pouvoir être appliquée. Le piéton est un usager fragile. Il doit être protégé par la loi. Qu’il soit sur ou hors d’un passage piéton, il est la personne prioritaire. Les lois européennes en France, en Allemagne ou en Angleterre stipulent que la priorité au piéton est une règle imposée. Il faut aussi éduquer celui-ci. Parmi les plus vulnérables, il y a les gens très jeunes ou les personnes âgées. Les jeunes à cause de leur impulsivité et les personnes âgées, parce qu’elles avancent plus lentement. Pour les enfants, il faut les sensibiliser à l’école et les plus âgés à travers leurs proches et les automobilistes.

Conflicting visions and strategies for road safety?

I find Daniel Raymon’s reply very interesting and realistic by bringing forward the various reasons why he believes that laws for pedestrians might not be the solution. Additionally, I believe that his stand on the topic might make the authorities frown especially because a few weeks back, someone from the Ministry of Transport and Public Infrastructure mentioned a set of regulations for pedestrians in another article. And for those who still remember, I posted an article in which our ex-special Road Safety Advisor also made a statement announcing the set up of a legal framework around the use of mobile phones by pedestrians.

Hence, it will be interesting to see who will have the last word. But anyway, let’s hope that they bring forward something concrete to reduce the number of fatal accidents on our roads.

2 thoughts on “New Road Safety Coordinator disapproves law for pedestrians

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  1. How can you adopt pedestrian road safety law when the infrastructure is lacking in safety? In many places there are no pavements and the pedestrian is forced to walk in danger of being hit by passing vehicles. In Vacoas cars park on the high street pavements forcing pedestrians to step-off onto incoming traffic. Also, some drivers should learn that pedestrian crossing lines are not there to better aim at knocking-down people. First sort out the infrastructure, next the safety mentality.

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