The rapporteurs of the mission to assess the law strengthening the fight against motorized rodeos, were traveling to Lyon. Rodeos that are found too many times in the news of the Lyon metropolis. Sunday July 25, a police officer was hit in the 3e arrondissement of Lyon, by a man who was doing a scooter rodeo. The policeman got away with a wound in his arm.
On August 3, 2018, Parliament passed legislation to strengthen sanctions against rodeos. As a reminder, the text provides in particular for a one-year prison sentence and a fine of 15,000 euros. Three years later, the co-rapporteurs of this parliamentary mission Natalia Pouzyreff (LREM, Yvelines) and Robin Reda (LR, Essonne) were in Lyon to assess the impact of the law and make a first assessment. During this round table, they exchanged with various actors such as representatives of the police, justice, and local elected officials (Lyon, Vaulx-en-Velin, Rillieux-la-Pape, Bron, Villeurbanne, Vénissieux).
At the end of the discussions, the deputies presented themselves to the press, at the Rhône prefecture, to take stock. According to observations made in the department, Robin Reda claims that 35% of people involved in rodeos are under 18, none of them women.
“What we have seen here is a common will to act“, Underlines the deputy. The actors are ready to work hand in hand. A desire for action that contrasts with the feeling of the inhabitants, frustrated by this phenomenon. This is one of the messages that Natalia Pouzyreff wanted to convey: residents should not feel abandoned. She insists and recalls that investigations are open, arrests, seizures take place later. Actions often a posteriori, in particular due to the fact of the police doctrine, which is not to go directly into contact, so as not to endanger civilians on the public highway, by creating chases.
For example, since the beginning of the year (nationwide), 704 arrests have taken place as well as 953 vehicle seizures. Since the law of 2018, the penal response has multiplied by 10.
Faced with this scourge that “Rots the lives of the inhabitants“, According to Robin Reda, technological tools are not to be neglected. He mentioned the use of drones.
Other measures were also proposed by elected officials (Bron, Rillieux la Pape and Lyon 2e arrondissement) during discussions:
- strengthen the power of mayors, as judicial police officers, by authorizing them to order the immediate confiscation and destruction of vehicles used for a rodeo
- systematically break the lease of those who park in their social housing, unapproved motorized vehicles
- reflect on the elimination of aid to people who resort to these practices
The two co-rapporteurs are also considering a way to sanction dissemination on social networks. Natalia Pouzyreff regrets the “Bidding”Which rodeo writers indulge in.
As for the solutions, the member for Yvelines was asked about prevention initiatives put in place, as in Vaulx-en-Velin, namely motocross courses on the circuit. She did not give a definitive answer: “All the avenues that can be considered need to be implemented. It’s necessary [les jeunes] offer them solutions. […] Let’s wait to see the results of this initiative by the mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin“.
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