The episode in detail
Anti-cycling in cities: a phenomenon between social media and life on the ground
Anti-cycling exists. Yann Foreix, a journalist at Le Parisien and director of the YouTube series Biclou, has been observing its forms for three years of reporting on the ground. The phenomenon is rooted in fear of change: motorists used to occupying the space see their share shrink in favour of the bike, and this redistribution creates tension.
On social media, language turns vindictive. Face to face, though, the picture is different. Yann Foreix finds that at Biclou, when he talks directly with motorists, most end up admitting that the growth of bike use is a good thing. Loud anti-cycling online does not always reflect the quiet consensus that emerges in real conversation.
“When you talk face to face with motorists, it goes rather well. People understand and try to take on board each other’s arguments.”
When mayors ban bikes from town centres
Nice, Agen, Lille: several French towns have issued orders banning bikes from certain pedestrian streets. The official reasoning cites the protection of pedestrians. In Nice, the order covers the summer season in the old town, with its narrow streets and market stalls. In Agen, a serious accident involving a five-year-old child was the trigger.
Yann Foreix points to the contradiction: making a cyclist get off their bike to walk beside it has no equivalent for any other mode of transport. Political anti-cycling, he says, is more serious than anti-cycling by individuals. Individual behaviour changes with habits. But when decision-makers block cycling infrastructure or ban bikes, the consequences are structural.
“When anti-cycling operates at the level of decision-making and politics, that’s a real problem. There, nothing can be done.”
The horn, close passing and the car’s authoritarianism
On the ground, anti-cycling takes physical forms. The horn is the most common. To a motorist, honking seems harmless. To a cyclist, it is a sonic assault that generates stress and fear. The horn is legally permitted only in the event of immediate danger, not to tell a cyclist that they have no business being on the road.
Deliberate close passing is a step further. When a vehicle overtakes a cyclist at 50 centimetres instead of the legally required metre, the message is clear: the bike has no place here. Yann Foreix sees this as the car’s authoritarianism. Behind the wheel, the motorist treats the cyclist as an unidentified object encroaching on their territory.
“The horn is a genuine assault. The motorist is saying: I have the right to be here. You, the cyclist, do not.”
Pedestrians versus cyclists: an easier confrontation than with the car
The tension is not limited to motorists. Pedestrians, too, show growing hostility towards cyclists. Some go as far as stepping in front of bikes to force them to stop, something they would never do to a car. The explanation lies in accessibility: a cyclist is visible, audible, vulnerable. It is easier to get angry at someone on a bike than at a car passing at 50 km/h.
The figures, however, put the phenomenon into perspective. 99.5% of pedestrians killed on the road are killed by motor vehicles. Deaths caused by cyclists can be counted on the fingers of one hand each year. This does not make the dangerous behaviour of some cyclists acceptable, but it shows that pedestrians’ sense of insecurity around bikes is disproportionate to the real risk.
“99.5% of pedestrians are run over by cars or scooters. Fatal accidents caused by cyclists are extremely rare.”
Three ways to ease cohabitation in the city
Yann Foreix proposes three concrete approaches. The first: include a bike test in the driving licence. Not a cycling licence, but requiring future motorists to ride a bike so they understand what it means to be overtaken at 50 centimetres by a motor vehicle.
The second approach: separate the flows. Ban shared spaces between pedestrians and cyclists as far as possible. Direct bike traffic towards dedicated infrastructure, physically separated from the road and the pavement. The third, harder to pin down: common sense. Adjust speed, anticipate, respect priority. Yann Foreix doubts that common sense is enough to manage flows of hundreds of thousands of people, but it remains the foundation of any urban cohabitation.
“If there were a bike test in the driving licence, I’m sure it would change things. Being overtaken at 50 cm makes you think.”
