VIDEO – Blind corners: “swallowed” by a truck, this Parisian cyclist miraculously escaped unscathed

Elise Prigent will never forget the Parisian crossroads where she came close to death. She was on a bicycle when a heavy truck almost killed her. “It happened extremely fast, in fractions of a second. I thought I passed it and then suddenly I was on the ground, swallowed by a monster. It was a bit of a horror in my head. . I really thought it was over, that I was going to die “, she testifies, at the scene of the accident, in the TF1 20H report at the top of this article.

The young woman is stuck under the truck. It will take 30 minutes for the fire department to extract it. But miraculously, Elise comes out unscathed with only a few bruises. “Like many people, I was unaware of how big the blind spots were, and I thought I was safe when in fact I was not.”, continues Elise.

This accident is not an isolated case. The TF1 report shows three situations in which a drama was narrowly avoided. Each time, the drivers say they did not see the danger. Last year, fourteen cyclists were killed and 92 injured due to heavy weight. Often these dramas are related to blind spots, the infographic of which below shows you (in red) the extent of the danger:

Since his seat, about 2 meters above the ground, the driver does not even see this cyclist at the foot of his cabin:

Ayoub Ganzou, truck driver, is afraid of blind spots. However, his truck is equipped with several cameras. The image is broadcast in his cabin, but it is not enough. “If I don’t take a look directly through the window, I don’t see the cyclists at all. This is the scenario that is going to lead to an accident.”, he warns.

If in France, we are reflecting in particular on the reorganization of crossroads, in Great Britain, we may have found the solution. Since March, cameras are mandatory on heavy goods vehicles. “We need to install a camera on the left side of the truck to be able to spot cyclists or pedestrians”, explains an English driver. But also a sound message to warn when the truck is turning: “Be careful, this truck is turning left”. “They can hear if you change direction. If an obstacle is too close to the vehicle, which the rearview mirror cannot see, the camera will see it.”, he continues.

Cost of installation: 1200 euros per vehicle, fully payable by the company. “If we enter an area without this equipment, we risk a fine of 650 euros per day”, says the director of a company. These London systems inspired Bertrand Pancher, French MP. He wanted to deny access to city centers to trucks not equipped with cameras, but his proposal was not accepted. “It is still a common sense measure that would prevent deaths. Me, I do not understand that it is not taken immediately”, he told TF1. For the moment, in France, only a sticker is compulsory for all vehicles of 3.5 tonnes circulating in the city center. Trucks and bicycles must therefore remain vigilant.