This article offers a critical view of the contemporary urban policies undertaken in France in the name of safe, sustainable urban transport strategies. It seeks to show how a spatially and socially selective ordering is under way in French transport planning and policies by presenting an overview of research and empirical results dealing with the narratives and the implementation of these policies. Firstly, urban transport policies were analysed as narratives. Stressing users' individual responsibility and their capacity to adopt economically rational behaviours, and conveying moral injunctions for them to adopt the 'right', safe, healthy, sustainable mobility behaviours, a depoliticized framing of issues characterizes these public policies. Referring to theoretical frameworks related to neoliberalisation as a rationality, our hypothesis is that a neoliberal rationality feeds these policies by ignoring a certain number of macrosocial determinants. Moreover, the use of morality works as a powerful democratic anaesthetic that dissolves any objection. Secondly, we studied how these policies, legitimated by 'noble causes' and depoliticized, influence the organization of traffic in the city, and to what extent they lead to a selective and uneven treatment of urban spaces. While sustainable mobility is frequently presented as a major objective in the field of urban planning for transport and travel, contemporary policies do not seek to reduce polluting modes of travel overall. They rather seek to direct them onto bypass road infrastructures to reduce their negative impacts on the city's main sites. 'Sustainable' policies oppose the car only in certain spaces and for certain uses. With reference to theoretical frameworks related to the entrepreneurial mutation of urban policies, our interpretation is that these policies are part of urban marketing strategies of cities engaged in inter-urban competition processes. These policies lead to an increase in the value and attractiveness of strategic areas of the city, and tend to displace problems (cars, noise, pollution ..., and deprived populations) to other parts of the urban territory.

La mise en œuvre de tramways dans les villes francaises s’accompagne de changements marques dans l’amenagement des axes concernes par le tramway, et tend a reduire la place de l’automobile, le volume de trafic et le nombre d’accidents sur ces axes. Cet article traite de l’evolution de la securite des deplacements observable au niveau plus global de l’agglomeration, pour 7 villes francaises ayant mis en service un tramway entre 2005 et 2016, par comparaison avec 22 autres villes (sans tramway). Il apparait que dans ces 7 villes, le nombre d’accidents (entrainant une hospitalisation) decroit entre la periode avant tramway et la periode apres tramway, mais qu’en moyenne cette diminution est considerablement plus faible que celle observee dans les 22 autres villes (sans tramway). L’evolution moins favorable dans les villes s’etant equipees d’un tramway peut difficilement etre interpretee comme traduisant l’effet du tramway en lui-meme. Une interpretation possible, qui resterait a etayer, serait que cette evolution resulte de choix plus generaux de politique urbaine ou de tendances preexistantes liees au contexte local ou regional, qui pourraient impliquer un accroissement du trafic automobile dans ces villes, a l’echelle de l’agglomeration.

Les collisions entre des pietons et des vehicules se deplacant en marche arriere sur les voies ou lieux ouverts a la circulation publique n'ont pas fait l'objet d'une grande attention en France. Pourtant, selon les statistiques nationales sur les accidents de la circulation, les vehicules en manoeuvre de marche arriere sont impliques dans 6,5 % des 11700 accidents de pieton enregistres chaque annee (sur la periode 2008-2015). En outre, cette proportion est probablement sous-estimee dans ces statistiques. Le present travail vise a fournir une rapide evaluation de ce probleme en France, en termes quantitatifs et qualitatifs. Un echantillon aleatoire de 882 proces-verbaux de police (ou de gendarmerie) sur des accidents de pieton survenus sur des voies ou lieux ouverts a la circulation publique en France metropolitaine a ete etudie pour identifier les cas avec vehicule en marche arriere parmi ces accidents. Les accidents de marche arriere (touchant des pietons) ainsi identifies (61 cas) ont ensuite ete analyses en detail pour ameliorer les connaissances sur les mecanismes en jeu. Les resultats obtenus sur l'echantillon etudie montrent que les accidents de marche arriere representent environ 7 % des accidents de pietons survenus sur les voies ou lieux ouverts a la circulation publique. Les pietons âges de 60 ans ou plus (73 % des victimes pietonnes concernees) et les vehicules commerciaux ou de transport de marchandises sont surrepresentes dans ces collisions. Souvent, les pietons ne voient pas le vehicule en marche arriere, n'anticipent pas sa manoeuvre, ou ne peuvent s'ecarter de la trajectoire du vehicule. Les conducteurs impliques, en general, ne voient pas le pieton avant la collision. Les raisons des manoeuvres de marche arriere ont ete identifiees et suggerent que ces manoeuvres pourraient en partie etre evitees. Il apparait que, outre l'influence de la visibilite limitee vers l'arriere dans les vehicules, certaines conceptions de la voirie jouent un role dans ces accidents en encourageant ou en obligeant les conducteurs a faire des manoeuvres de marche arriere (du moins pour les vehicules de grande dimension).

Background:Collisions between pedestrians and reversing vehicles in public settings have received little attention in France. Yet, according to the national statistics on traffic accidents, reversing vehicles are involved in 6.5% of the 11,700 pedestrian accidents recorded each year (over the 2008-2015 period). Moreover, this proportion is probably underestimated in these statistics.Objective:This work aims to provide a brief assessment of this problem in the French case, in quantitative and qualitative terms.Methods:A random sample of 882 police reports on pedestrian accidents occurring in public settings in France was studied to identify the reversing collisions among them. Then, the reversing accidents found (61 cases) were thoroughly analysed to improve our knowledge of the mechanisms involved.Results:Reversing collisions account for about 7% of pedestrian accidents in public settings. Pedestrians aged 60 or over (73% of the pedestrian victims) and commercial and goods vehicles are over-represented in these collisions. Pedestrians often fail to see the reversing vehicle, fail to anticipate its manoeuvre, or are not able to get out its path. Drivers generally fail to see the pedestrian before the collision. The reasons for the reversing manoeuvres are identified and suggest that these manoeuvres could partly be avoided.Conclusion:In France, reversing accidents represent a non-negligible proportion of pedestrian accidents in public settings. It appears that, in addition to the influence of limited rearward visibility in vehicles, certain road layouts play a role in these accidents by encouraging or forcing drivers to make reversing manoeuvres (at least for large vehicles).

Little is known on the detailed characteristics of the mobility and accidents of pedestrian teenagers in France. The safety of pedestrians aged 10 to 15 years has been less studied in the literature than that of younger pedestrians, yet nowadays this age group corresponds to the highest victim rate for pedestrian accidents. The assumption is that this higher rate is due in part to the peculiarities of their mobility and their use of urban space. Through a spatial analysis of the territory of the Lille metropolitan area, this article provides insights into the determinants of this specific involvement of adolescents in pedestrian accidents. This work is based on accident data obtained through the analysis of police reports on injury accidents (occurred in the Lille metropolitan area for the period 2002-2011), and mobility data from the 2006 survey on household’s travel activities carried out by the authorities of the Lille metropolitan area. The results highlight the importance of the factors related to the exposure to traffic in the involvement of adolescents in pedestrian accidents. The spatial analysis also reveals specific concentrations of adolescent pedestrian accidents in suburban areas near urban centers. Finally, through the detailed accident analysis, the main processes leading to accidents involving adolescent pedestrians are identified, as well as the role of some characteristics of infrastructure and spatial contexts in these processes.

Cet article traite des incidences sur la sécurité des piétons de l'aménagement de couloirs de circulation réservés aux bus dans les grandes agglomérations. Après une revue de la littérature scientifique, il présente une investigation sur la sécurité des piétons dans les rues équipées de voies réservées aux bus dans la ville de Marseille. Cette investigation comporte des analyses quantitatives des risques d'accidents de piéton et une analyse qualitative du déroulement de cas d'accidents de piéton survenus dans ces voies réservées. Les conclusions issues de la littérature et les résultats obtenus sur le terrain étudié sont en bonne concordance et suggèrent globalement que les couloirs de bus, aménagés dans le sens de la circulation générale ou à contresens, sont plutôt défavorables à la sécurité des piétons. Les résultats montrent également que le type d'aménagement conditionne les formes d'accidents de piétons et donc les moyens envisageables pour leur prévention.

This article deals with the effects on pedestrian safety of the implementation of bus lanes in great cities. After a review of the scientific literature, an investigation into the safety of pedestrians in streets with bus lanes in the city of Marseille is presented. This investigation includes quantitative analyses of pedestrian accident risks and a qualitative analysis of pedestrian accident cases occurred in bus lanes. The conclusions drawn from the literature review and the results obtained from the field investigation are consistent and, as a whole, suggest that bus lanes (with-flow or contraflow bus lanes) tend to be detrimental to the safety of pedestrians. The results also show that the various types of bus lane give rise to different forms of pedestrian accidents and therefore to different possibilities in terms of preventive measures.

Background The road crash peak among children is around 11–12 years-old in France, as in many industrialised countries, at the time of entry in secondary school. The reasons why this vulnerability increases while the skills involved should have improved are not clear. By linking two fields of analysis of road safety (fine spatial analysis of crashes and depth analysis of behaviours and psychosocial factors), our project aimed to finely identify the mobility and pedestrian accident involvement of the 10–15 years old and specify geographical, psychological and sociological determinants of both variables. Methods and results A study of accident processes among pedestrians aged 10–15 years over France for the period 2002–2011 was conducted, based on the national accident file and on a sample of accident police reports. It was completed in the field of study of the Lille region (France) by the spatial analysis of local accident data (including the identification of accident scenarios) and the mobility of 10–15 years, using data from the 2006 household travel survey. Two field surveys were then conducted. A first survey among 2500 junior high school students has identified the fine mobility practices and their socio-spatial determinants. It also explored the demographic and psychological variables (age, gender roles, perceptions of social norms, risks, rules, level of supervision) explaining the reported pedestrian risky behaviours. A second survey among 300 junior high school students focused on their perceptions of known and unknown walking environments. It enabled to draw up a sensible mapping of their actual walking environment and a qualitative analysis of the elements using to judge the pleasantness and safety and characterise their representations of positive or negative actual and virtual travels as pedestrian. Conclusions The results allow a better understanding of the phenomena and processes involved in the accident of pedestrian adolescents and to identify measures needed to overcome this problem.

Little is known on the detailed characteristics of the mobility and accidents of pedestrian teenagers in France. The safety of pedestrians aged 10 to 15 years has been less studied in the literature than that of younger pedestrians, yet nowadays this age group corresponds to the highest victim rate for pedestrian accidents. The assumption is that this higher rate is due in part to the peculiarities of their mobility and their use of urban space. Through a spatial analysis of the territory of the Lille metropolitan area, this article provides insights into the determinants of this specific involvement of adolescents in pedestrian accidents. This work is based on accident data obtained through the analysis of police reports on injury accidents (occurred in the Lille metropolitan area for the period 2002-2011), and mobility data from the 2006 survey on households' travel activities carried out by the authorities of the Lille metropolitan area. The results highlight the importance of the factors related to the exposure to traffic in the involvement of adolescents in pedestrian accidents. The spatial analysis also reveals specific concentrations of adolescent pedestrian accidents in suburban areas near to urban centers. Finally, through the detailed accident analysis, the main processes leading to accidents involving adolescent pedestrians are identified, as well as the role of some characteristics of infrastructure and spatial contexts in these processes.

This matched case-control study deals with the effect of the individual travelling speed on the risk of involvement in a road accident. The cases were cars involved in injury accidents dealt with within the framework of an in-depth accident investigation programme. The matched controls were cars passing the same road site as the crash-involved car, in the same conditions but without being involved in an accident. Only normal weather, daytime and free-flow conditions were considered. Overall, 52 cases and 817 controls were used. The speeds were obtained from kinematic reconstructions for the crash-involved cars, and using a laser speed gun for the controls. A significant positive relationship is found between the individual travelling speed and the risk of injury accident. Nevertheless, this study has limitations, due to the relatively small number of cases and to the data used (kinematic reconstructions always involve some degree of interpretation).

Le pic d'accident pieton chez l'enfant se situe en France, comme dans beaucoup de pays industrialises entre 11 et 13 ans, a l'entree dans l'enseignement secondaire. Les raisons pour lesquelles cette vulnerabilite augmente alors que les competences impliquees devraient s'etre ameliorees ne sont pas claires. En articulant deux champs d'analyse de la securite routiere (l'accidentologie fine et spatialisee avec l'analyse approfondie des comportements et des facteurs psychosociaux), notre projet a eu pour objectif de cerner finement la mobilite des collegiens et l'accidentologie en tant que pieton et de specifier des determinants geographiques, psychologiques et sociologiques de ces deux variables et de leurs relations. Une etude de l'accidentologie 2002-2011 des collegiens sur la France entiere a partir d'un echantillon de proces-verbaux d'accidents a ete completee, sur le terrain d'etude de la region de Lille (France) par l'analyse spatialisee de l'accidentologie locale (avec scenarios types d'accidents) et de la mobilite des 10-15 ans a partir des donnees de l'Enquete Menages Deplacements de 2006. Sur le meme terrain d'etude, deux enquetes ont ensuite ete menees. Une premiere enquete par questionnaire aupres 2500 collegiens de 10 a 16 ans a permis de cerner les pratiques fines de mobilite et leurs determinants socio-spatiaux. Elle a egalement permis d'explorer les variables sociodemographiques (âge, sexe) et psychologiques (roles de sexe, perceptions des normes sociales, des risques, des regles, du niveau de supervision) expliquant les comportements declares en tant que pieton. Une deuxieme enquete aupres de 300 collegiens a porte sur la perception par les collegiens des environnements de marche connus et inconnus. Elle a permis de dresser une cartographie sensible de leur environnement de marche reel et de proceder a une analyse qualitative des elements qu'ils utilisent pour juger de l'agrement, du confort et de la securite et caracteriser leur representation des trajets positifs ou negatifs en tant que pieton. Cette analyse des caracteristiques de la mobilite et de ses presupposes doit nous permettre d'identifier des facteurs de risque jusque-la non reveles. Une meilleure comprehension des phenomenes et processus en jeu est necessaire afin de pouvoir determiner quelles mesures sont a prendre pour pallier ce probleme. Cela constitue l'objectif principal du projet que nous proposons. Les resultats obtenus permettent de mieux comprendre les phenomenes et processus en jeu dans l'accidentologie des adolescents de 10-15 ans et de determiner les mesures a prendre pour pallier ce probleme.

The objective of this experimental study is to identify the differentiation made by pedestrians, in their crossing decision, between various urban environments, notably in terms of perception of walking pleasantness and safety. This experiment further aims to identify the environmental features that pedestrians take into account and the inferences they develop and use to explain their road crossing decision. Sets of photographs presenting five different environments (city center, inner suburbs, public housing in the outskirts, commercial zone in the outskirts and countryside) were presented to 77 participants divided up into three age groups (pre-adolescents, young and middle adults). Their decision to cross or not, their perception of pleasantness and safety, and the elements they take into account to make a decision were collected for each environment presented. The quantitative results show the pedestrians’ perceptions of the pleasantness and safety of public spaces, in terms of walking, largely vary with urban environments. Moreover, the crossing decision significantly varies according to the environment. Pedestrians were significantly more inclined to take the decision to cross in city center than in the other sites presented. The qualitative analysis of the interviews shows that the presence and function of the buildings, the quality of the sidewalks and the marked parking spaces are key factors to explain their crossing decision, by enabling them to infer the density of pedestrians and traffic and the vehicle speed.

Taking all users of the road system into account - notably those who use non-motorized modes of transportation - is a major challenge for urban engineers when designing roads and public spaces. And yet, although a body of knowledge exists concerning the effects of the environment on pedestrian accidentology, so far very little research has been carried out on the perception pedestrians have of the road environment (structure of buildings, vegetation, etc.) and its influence on decision-making when crossing. This exploratory research aims at studying this perception through a qualitative approach. The authors used the focus group method to study the perception of 20 two-way street environments with a certain level of diversity from the point of view of buildings (type, density, and heterogeneity), activities, position in relation to the city center, width of the sidewalks and type of traffic. The participants in the two focus groups were 11 regular or occasional pedestrians. The authors analyze the focus group’s responses in terms of perception of the environment, inferences about driver behavior (notably toward pedestrians), and influence on the pedestrian crossing behavior. Pedestrians prefer environments in which they have the upper hand or environments that are highly predictable. The results suggest a few tendencies or lines of approach concerning the design of spaces that make street crossing more comfortable for pedestrians. The authors note that the focus group method is of great interest for studying the perception and interpretation of urban environments.