French Motorcyclists Are About To Set Fire to Paris Over Lane Filtering Ban

No matter where you are in the world, or what language you speak, responsible lane filtering has been shown time and again to be safer for riders. There's a reason why motorcycle safety instructors consistently advocate for the rights of riders to filter and/or split. 

And if you're going to come into the comments and go "But what about those assholes who fly up between cars doing 90 on one wheel, hmmmmmm?" you can absolutely miss me with your disingenuous deflection. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

There are assholes in (and on) all types of vehicles, but there are also a lot of responsible riders and drivers who try to do things right. Punishing everyone for the mistakes of a few is dumb, and deep down, I think you know it.

Recently we talked about how the mayor of the city of Paris, France took the controversial action of limiting the speed on the Paris ring rode to just 50 kilometers per hour, or about 31 mph.

While the new law doesn't explicitly say that lane filtering for two-wheeled vehicles is banned, that's effectively now the case because France currently only allows lane filtering under very specific conditions. One of them is that the speed limit on roads where it's permitted must be 75 km/h (that's 46.6 mph) or greater.

So, bikers in and around the French capital aren't too happy about it, and it's hard to blame them. And now, once more, the French Federation of Angry Bikers (FFMC is the French acronym) is mobilizing its members to do something about it.

In fact, it's taking more than one very smart approach to fight the measure. What's it doing, you ask?

For one, the FFMC is teaming up with the Drivers Defense League (LDC) to jointly fight the new law and try to get the mayor and legislators to see reason. Getting more people on side is crucial to the advancement of any movement, and solidarity is absolutely both urgent and key.

For two, on Sunday, October 20, 2024, the FFMC is also holding an official protest demonstration against the new law. It's set to kick off at 2 p.m. local time, on the Porte Dauphine side of Avenue Foch in Paris. 

According to FFMC of Paris leader Jean-Marc Belotti, this is very much a class issue. How so? Think about the economics of any large city you know. Paris is an incredibly expensive place to live, so there are plenty of people who work there who must therefore commute from the suburbs because they can't afford to live closer to where they work. 

Belotti says that the Paris ring road is used approximately 80 percent by just such motorists and riders, who are commuting and "have neither the means nor the privilege of living in the most expensive city in France." Absolutely no mincing of words there, and I appreciate the directness.

But wait; there's more!

In addition to the planned protest this weekend, the FFMC and LDC are also currently crowdfunding for justice. More specifically, they're asking at least 300 riders and motorists to come together and chip in €12 (you read that right; about US $13 at the time of writing) so they can officially file a class-action lawsuit to fight the new law.

If you're interested in joining this action, you can do so here. And if you have friends in and around Paris, you might want to pass this along to them, too.

A further translation of Belotti's words about the plight of riders on the ring road continues: "80% of ring road users are suburbanites. However, these workers, who were applauded during the COVID lockdown, are now rejected without any further ado. And if they are forced to take their vehicles because they do not have the same comfort of access to public transport as residents of the capital, too bad for them, since they have no power to vote or sanction Parisian politicians. This situation, which has been going on for years, is not acceptable."

I've never lived or ridden in Paris, but I know what it's like to struggle to afford living in a major city. And I know what it's like to commute to a job serving folks who are much fancier than I'll ever be.

So, it's not at all difficult to understand why and how workers in this situation could see this as an extra slap in the face, just for having the audacity to ride to work and try to live their lives. In such a congested major city, you'd think that encouraging more two-wheeled transportation rather than less would be the sensible thing to do, no?