is the federal government being overzealous? | EUROtoday

LFrance has no authorities, no price range, no challenge, however relaxation assured, the standard-producing machine remains to be operating at full pace. This authorities leaves us a decisive legislative legacy on the important and strategic difficulty… of bicycle tail lamps, a topic of the utmost significance which had not but been sufficiently regulated. This was with out counting this decree of November 27 (decree no. 2024-1074 “relating to motorized personal travel vehicles” and cycles) signed by the hand of Prime Minister Michel Barnier and at least 5 ministers who’ve now resigned … At least that was mandatory to control bicycle tail lamps.

What does this round inform us? If the presence of entrance and tail lamps was already necessary, the query of whether or not these lights could possibly be flashing or not had by no means been determined. It’s now performed: bear in mind that the tail lamps can not be flashed… beneath penalty of a high quality of 11 euros. This similar decree offers in passing that cyclists now have the fitting to hold lights with them… A quite common follow which had not but been regulated (poor factor), we marvel how we have been capable of survive such a very long time. authorized vagueness.

Let’s rapidly regulate bicycle bells

This decree, which actually thinks of every part, additionally offers that cyclists “must never ride more than two abreast on the road”, and that they need to “form in single file as soon as daylight falls and in all case where traffic conditions require it, in particular when a vehicle wanting to overtake announces its approach. Why not. But why stop there?

Let us quickly regulate bicycle bells, by setting up a “Special Commission for Sound Warning Devices for Cycles” responsible for determining whether these bells should sound “ding”, “dring”, “ding-dong” or “drelin-drelin”. We could also regulate the color of reflectors, these reflective systems in the spokes of bicycle wheels… except that this color is already regulated: they must be orange. For any other color, there will be a fine of 11 euros.

This regulation of bicycle lights is only one symptom among many others of what is happening to us: our European neighbors are simplifying their administrations, while France continues to be locked in an absurd normative spiral that no one seems to be able to. Stop. The political machine is broken, but the bureaucratic machine is doing wonderfully, thank you for it.

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Kangaroo of the day

Answer

Except that by wanting to regulate every part, beginning with the insignificant, the State loses credibility on the important. A helpful state doesn’t regulate bicycle lights. A helpful State focuses on actual political points akin to debt, battle, work or unemployment… But that’s undoubtedly an excessive amount of to ask in a interval of instability just like the one we’re experiencing, the place collective ambition doesn’t exceed not the little decrees on bicycle tail lamps…

Find the chronicle of Clément Pétreault each Wednesday on France Inter.