A week after the fatal accident in Rouen, the inhabitants of the Luciline district demand measures against speed
On April 22, 2022, a very fast-paced sedan hit a car on Boulevard de Lesseps in Rouen (Seine-Maritime), killing one person and seriously injuring him. For the inhabitants of the district, it is an accident too many. They are asking for road improvements.
A week after the death of a woman, passenger of a small car hit by a sedan traveling at very high speed (more than 120 km / h according to witnesses) on a boulevard in Rouen, the emotion is still great in the Luciline district, west of downtown Rouen.
The accident took place on a Friday, shortly before 6:30 p.m., on Boulevard de Lesseps, which runs along the Seine between the Flaubert bridge, at the A150 road, and the Guillaume le Conquérant bridge. A Mercedes, driving very fast, hit a small Peugeot which came in front with a mother and her daughter on board.
After the impact, the driver of the sedan fled on foot.
Despite the efforts of the emergency services, the mother died on the spot. Her daughter, seriously injured, was hospitalized at the Rouen University Hospital.
Came very quickly to help from the collision, before the arrival of the police and firefighters, residents of the Luciline district were marked by this accident of April 22, 2022.
A week later, they express their emotion, but also their anger, because this is not the first accident in the sector. This is the case of Pierre-Emmanuel Brunet, president of the neighborhood association “La Luciline s’active”.
Since 2017 he has been fighting against the speed of vehicles driving on the high traffic axes that surround his neighborhood: Mont-Riboudet, rue Amédée Dormoy, rue Jean Ango and boulevard Ferdinand de Lesseps.
“We’ve been living in this neighborhood since 2017, some since 2014, and for all these years we’ve been telling the authorities, elected officials, the improvements that need to be made to this axis where people drive very fast and which is very noisy. Now we will have to wait for more dramas, and this latest drama, for serious action to be taken to manage this problem.”
Pierre-Emmanuel Brunet, president of the neighborhood association “La Luciline s’active” and president of “Rouen Respire”
Eco-district opened in 2014 and which started the reconversion of the west of Rouen, in the wake of the construction of the hangars on the right bank quays, Luciline is located near the car dealerships of Mont-Riboudet, the shopping center of the Docks and its cinemas, the Saint-Gervais peninsula (where the circuses and the Saint-Romain fair stop), the Kindarena sports hall, and many restaurants and festive places located along the Seine.
A district where many motorists converge, coming from several tens of kilometers around.
Every day, thousands of vehicles, coming from the A150 motorway from Dieppe, Yvetot and Barentin, pass under the Flaubert bridge then on the boulevard de Lesseps, along three parallel lanes the Luciline district.
Residents whose windows, with a view of the Seine, overlook Boulevard de Lesseps, are tired of hearing “every day, day and night, speeding cars and motorbikes”.
On the Facebook page of “Luciline activates”a couple testifies:
“The authorities are doing absolutely nothing to control the flow of vehicles. We can’t even enjoy our terrace because it’s impossible to stay a minute with all this noise and pollution. It is hoped that this horrific accident will move those responsible for the safety of citizens. Set up speed cameras, speed bumps! Finally, the solutions are multiple! Do whatever it takes!!”
Spokesperson and relay for these residents angry and shocked by the fatal accident of April 22, Pierre-Emmanuel Brunet is calling on the municipality to ensure that improvements are made quickly, as a matter of urgency.
“We need a permanent way to bring down the speed in the sector” he explains, reviewing different tracks: the installation of cameras “useful for excessive speeding”, the installation of a radar, a better distribution of the three lanes for the left turn maneuver…
There is also the question of the fourth way, the one that is against the direction of the three others, the one where the Mercedes was driving. Should it be deleted? Should it be separated with, for example, a row of white plastic terminals (“J11” type)?
Safety arrangements are also necessary, added Pierre-Emmanuel Brunet for better access to the Luciline district, but also to better connect it to the banks of the Seine, such as the replacement of this dangerous “protected” passage in front of the Docks, wedged between a railroad and trucks driving 10 centimeters from pedestrians.
When will there also be another pedestrian access crossing the railway line, further east, between the Docks and the Port building? Like, for example, facing rue Ango, where it is not uncommon to see many pedestrians, eager to go to the restaurants on the quays, running across the four lanes of the boulevard and stepping over the barriers so as not to make a big DEVIATION.
Pedestrian safety also in question along the back of the sheds on the quai de Boisguilbert, where zone 30 of this large car park is not respected (and poorly indicated) and where no marks on the ground exist, cars brushing past pedestrians at good speed.
Pedestrian safety again on the other side of the sheds, on the platforms, where, sometimes at high speed and even on the back wheel, passing families and children, motorbikes and scooters of those who want to park (free of charge ) at the foot of the terrace where they drink an aperitif.
All these points must be communicated, discussed and recalled at a future neighborhood meeting with a representative of the municipality.