Toulouse: the police trap the speeders who practice wild “runs”
The national police organized this Friday, August 12 a punch operation against drivers who take the road from Spain to Toulouse for a Formula 1 circuit. These individuals were placed in police custody and their vehicles confiscated. The police will multiply this kind of checks by the end of the summer.
The party is over. The public gathered on both sides of the road from Spain to Toulouse remains frozen as if hypnotized by the blue lights of the flashing lights. They are about 150 this Friday evening to attend extremely noisy and ultra-dangerous wild runs for the pilots and the spectators.
Most are young adults, boys and girls, lovers of mechanical thrills. Standing starts, some converted cars respecting the 200 km/h, on this straight line separated by a median where the maximum authorized speed is 50 km/h.
The Toulouse police are carrying out a crackdown on an unprecedented scale against urban rodeos (see box). About forty civil servants supported by the municipal police block all the exits from the area so that all the aficionados of these forbidden courses find themselves trapped in a mousetrap.
Howling engine, oversized fin
Before the arrival of the “cavalry”, the City’s cameras were put to use. A judicial police officer watched the results of the “races” live. His mission was to identify motorists or motorcyclists who repeatedly exceeded the limits. Before the intervention, the police already knew that it was necessary to “pick” in priority thanks to a precise description of the targeted vehicles. Time passes. It’s nearly two o’clock in the morning. Some participants are reluctant to return to their vehicles parked in the car parks of surrounding stores. They fear not being able to cross the roadblocks and end up in the post. A young adult, cap backwards, full beard, attempts a breakthrough at the wheel of his old BMW, which he has transformed into a racing car (passenger cabin, screaming engine and oversized spoiler).
“Give us a circuit!”
At his side, a child white as linen, not really reassured by the turn of events. He drives slowly before a flashlight tickles his face. A policeman asks him to get out of the vehicle. The boy grimaces. His passenger slips away. Faced with the precision of the facts reported by the agent, the young man can only acquiesce.
He is taken into custody. His car is seized before his eyes. A tow truck takes the vehicle where he has invested a good part of his savings. According to the legal proceedings, he is not sure of one day recovering his BMW.
Those who fell through the cracks watch the situation with almost amusement. This is the case of Maxime, road haulier, driver during night runs in Toulouse. The young man readily admits regularly exceeding 150 km/h on this road in built-up areas despite the risk of being flashed and losing his job. “Usually the cops go to two cars and split up. There, it has nothing to do, but we will come back either here or on other spots. It’s our passion, we can’t live without it. There are more and more of us. They could not stop the phenomenon. Unless finally, we are provided with a circuit! »
Fight against runs and wild rodeos:
the gendarmes in the device
The gendarmes of Haute-Garonne have deployed a device to control gatherings of vehicles in addition to that of the national police.
Upstream of the Toulouse hotspot of wild “runs”, route d’Espagne, the gendarmes deployed in numbers, around twenty, in order to filter out potential candidates for these illegal races, like this young driver of a 2 “amplified” wheels. The operation was carried out jointly by the Haute-Garonne gendarmerie group, the departmental road safety squadron (EDSR) and the Muret gendarmerie company, respectively represented by Lieutenant-Colonel Fautrat, Commander Bonsens and Commander Joaquim. The gendarmes have had this problem for a long time and have succeeded, in certain areas, in eradicating the phenomenon. Responsible for maintaining order in rural or peri-urban areas, they have much more to do than their colleagues in the national police with young people on motorcycles or quads who play acrobats in the heart of the city. In addition, they regularly check the tuning fan gatherings which mostly take place on Friday evenings. As in the parking lot of Leclerc de Fenouille, a regular meeting place. “Two worlds cohabit and which do not support each other during these gatherings. One where you show your beautiful cars in peace. And the other where we fool around and burn tires but it is very rare to have runs as such, ”says a policeman.
Target 10,000 anti-rodeo operations by August 31
Two children were mowed down by a motorcycle on Friday August 5 in Pontoise (Val-d’Oise). Following this tragedy, Gérard Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior asked the police to carry out 10,000 checks in August on urban rodeos. The Toulouse police are doing their part by carrying out at least five operations dedicated to rodeos until August 31.