http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3311182.ece:
Parisian cyclists have won the right to go through red lights following a fierce debate over their claim that the move would reduce the risk of road accidents.
A three-year campaign by cyclists’ associations — which say it is idiotic for them to stop at traffic lights — bore fruit when the Government published a decree authorising councils to change the rules.
Paris will be among the first major cities to try out the new system after councillors approved a plan to allow bicycles to turn right or to go straight at a T-junction even when the lights are red.
Thousands of cyclists are fined in the city every year for failing to stop at “un feu rouge”.
A new sign featuring a yellow bicycle will indicate that cyclists can ignore a traffic light and move forward if the road is clear. They do not have priority and will be held responsible in the event of an accident.
The experiment will be limited at first to a small district in north Paris. If there is no recorded rise in the number of accidents, the system will be extended to all 69 areas of the capital where there is a 30 kph speed limit.
(end excerpt, personal comment follows)
I really like their approach of testing a little, measuring, and then deciding.
The U.S. right-on-red-after-stop rule was phased in as well. When I got my permit 1974-75, there were maybe a couple dozen intersections I was aware of within 20 miles of the house with the sign "Right Turn Allowed After Stop". They stayed up for a year as a test. Seeing that it worked OK without creaming too many more fenders or pedestrians than they were already doing, it went into effect (NY) statewide around 1976.
interesting... although their cops seem even worse than here, what a load of dismissive bullshit:
The Paris Police Authority blamed cyclists for their own injuries.
“If cyclists are sometimes victims of dangerous behaviour by other road users, their own tendency to break the rules of the road is too often at the origin of these accidents,” it said in a statement.
I love Paris. I'm completely in love with the entire city, I even adore that otherwise horrible smell that seems to linger in the gutters and parks. It is, bar none, my favorite city ever.
It'd be a cold day in hell before I ride a bike on a street there, let alone through a red light! Parisian traffic, while infinitely better organized and more subdued than the traffic I've seen in West Africa, eastern Asia, and Puerto Rico, is absolutely frightening. It's so very terribly French, in all the best and worst ways possible. I love it, but it is purely a spectator sport.
I think the crazy Parisian roads (now to be made crazier) are one of the reasons for the success of the sidewalk cafes. If their traffic were like Tokyo traffic, there'd never be anything to see (note: not many sidewalk cafes in Tokyo, despite the milder climate, could be due to the most mundane vehicle traffic ever).
I do like the measured approach to the change. Seems reasonable, if one finds anything about Parisian traffic to be reasonable.
le sigh.
