Driving differently means paying attention to other road users and in particular to all those who use soft mobility… In the 2022 accident rate report unveiled a few days ago, cyclists and other scooter riders now represent 8% of killed and 20% seriously injured.
Florence Guillaume, Interministerial Delegate for Road Safety explains that this is “sensitize people through the acquisition of reflex acts“. In other words, she says,from the moment you force yourself to open your door with the opposite hand, you have to turn around, you have to check your blind spot“. This, according to the delegate, is one of the small gestures that must become habitual.
The campaign reminds us of the importance of thinking of others when driving, but also of thinking of ourselves when riding a bicycle or scooter, by wearing a helmet that can help us avoid the worst. The consequences of a dooring are indeed particularly serious. Caroline Deck, biomechanics researcher at the University of Strasbourg, says that when a cyclist or scooter rider hits a door, he “falls backwards and hits the skull on the road ».
She then specifies that in the event of non-wearing of the helmet “he runs a 100% risk of cranial fracture and also a risk of neurological damage, i.e. an initial loss of consciousness“. Conversely, insists the researcher, if the cyclist is wearing a helmet “the percentage of lesions will drastically decrease, with cranial fractures less than half and a risk of neurological lesions less than 6%“. Figures that speak for themselves. So even if wearing a helmet is not yet compulsory, don’t deprive yourself of it, it might well save your life.
