Paul Varry dreamed of a cyclusive revolution. Then an SUV that destroyed him

Paris cycling rates grow in recent years. But the death of 27-year-old Paul Varry – saying that a driver is running – reveals a dark side of quitting the Paris revolution.

“It’s not an accident,” Collerue Colentin believes in Paul’s companion.

We stood at the edge of a bike lane in Boulevard Malesherbes, the steps away from Paul’s places in a SUV on 15 October 2024.

The moments before his death were subjected to a criminal investigation.

Paul biked at home from work. The cycle passage is separated from the road by a slightly raised curve.

According to witnesses and CCTVs, the SUV driver began driving the bike lane. Prosecutors say the driver is running on Paul’s feet. Paul points out his fist on the bonnet.

The motorist returned at first, but then 27-year-old. An autopsy confirmed “car marks crossing his body”.

The 52-year-old driver was charged with murder. His lawyer said he might have lost control of the car in a stressful situation he tried to get out.

In a hearing attended by News Agency AFP, he cried and said “Sorry for what happened. I never meant to run him.”

Paris sees a cycling drain as part of a wider change led by Mayor Anne Hidalgo. During the last decade, the city invested in € 400m (£ 331m) in the cycling infrastructure, which created more than 1,000 kilometers of bicycle lines.

According to a recent study, cycling now contains more than 11% of the journeys within Paris, compared with only 4% of the vehicle. Walking is still the most famous means of participating – accounting for 53% of trips, followed by public transport (30%).

But in spite of investing, the cycling of Paris still heard.

Bicycle lines are highly patchy, no united and often unexplored traffic lights. The rules surrounding the right not always clear and often targeted, which cyclists have made it difficult to navigate safely.

The death of Paul Vargy was severe, but it lived and became a symbol of daily struggle for space in the streets of Paris.

His mother, Nathalie Tison, remembered his son as a vain spirit that accepted the freedom of cycling. “He was very happy and a heavy man, he had a beautiful sense of humor and always gentle to the people around him. It was an injustice because he didn’t deserve everything.”

He told me that he was always worried about the danger of his son who was riding in Paris, where he found a sense of right to some drivers.

“Drivers can be super aggressive – nothing can do in their way,” he said. “For some, the car is an enlargement of their verility and if someone touches their car … it is removed as a personal attack.

“I’m afraid for him.”

Paul understood these risks, and an active member of the Cycling Group Paris en Selle – Paris in the saddle. He camped for more than one-sided wasregated for bicycles and safe junctions.

Insurers hope the progress made in Paris will continue.

Rémi Féraud, a Socialist Senator and Anne Hidalgo’s top choice for the future mayor, not dreaming of a living without a car, “because there were people of Pariss with cars”.

“But by reducing space for the car, we provide it for those who really need to come in the car,” he said. “We want a city of 100% cycle of … it’s an offer of freedom.”

Encourage multiple street space for cyclists involving space control for cars. The number of parking spaces in Paris is broken in the middle and some vehicles forbidden from driving to town.

Some drivers, especially those from the suburbs, feel that the city’s car’s reduction policies makes their lives hard.

“Driving Paris is like to go to war,” says Shawy, a ready-made 24-year-old midwife. “There are no rules.” I sat on his car as he stopped a cycle path – he could not be avoided because people walked there and in front of our vehicles.

What did he do if there was a confrontation with a cyclist? “I’m just sorry.”

Shawy brings me out as we approached a zone at the city center where traffic passes – one of the many steps that attract business owners.

Patrick Aboukrat, owning a fashion boutique in the Marais Shopping District, launching a case in Comité Marais Paris, advancing business he led, to try to open some bags ong rules.

He said customers lost and some plans to sell. “If young people say they want to open a shop, I say ‘to open a shop in the suburbs, go outside Paris.’

“We understand the need to have fewer cars in the center. I say the mayor we want to work together, to change the plan. But they don’t listen. It’s ideology.” This is ideology. “This is ideology.”

But Féraud, the Senator, in turn suggests increasing online shopping.

According to polls, most of those who live in paris’s main ring – which only 30% a vehicle – do not think about the traffic limit.

Those who are outside the outside drive more, but they are not eligible to vote the major in Paris or influence traffic police.

Alexandra Legendre, representing motorist lobby groups – Defense defense drivers say defense defense defense defense he feels the authorities in the costs of the cost of the cost of everything.

He accuses politicians clapped in a desire to change Paris in a paradise of Cyclists – ignores road safety. He presses the drivers of the car not to be treated “the bad men”.

There was a joint that Paul Varger’s death was a tragedy, but Ms Legendre did not think that it was relevant to him as a cyclist.

Paris navigates the challenges of its biking revolution while European chapters are forced to rations carbon related transportation. The Green Design of the EU is aim to achieve a 90% reduction in the relading gas transportation at 2050.

Corestin, with Paul’s work, focused while Paris is far from perfect, the infrastructure is hurting, which is easier to enjoy seeing.

“We are in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and no better way to see it than bike.”

The constant stream of cyclists hanging on rue de rue – which is a significant highway to 2020 – suggests that the transfer of bicycle spaces cannot be changed.

Paul’s mother hopes that the safe change in the streets of Paris can be part of her child’s heritage.

No date is set for testing.

When it finally comes around, he will face the defendant’s man causing his son’s death for the first time.

He was a father of four, the authorities told him. Two families, he was referred to, “broken”.

He believes in a way Paul lives and dies should be a reason for change.

“She is very glad, intelligent, sensitive – it is a waste of a thousand pieces. We should ask ourselves, what do we want us to live?”