I’ve recently enough started to cycle to work. It has had its ups and downs … but that’s mostly due to the little hills around Nantes. One thing however that does bug me is the blatant disregard for cycle paths at times by motorised vehicles.
Hey, we’re just parking here for a few minutes. Look I’m parked up here I can’t help it my car is blocking the cycle path. Not to mention people not looking and opening doors as you’re cycling along. You can of course report other things as well.
For the most part, my experience has been pretty good in Nantes so far. It would however just take one accident to ruin your day.
Now there’s a new app that was just launched for Nantes on the 26th of April. It’s called Vigilo and it lets your report incidents in and around Nantes. (It has existed for a while in other cities I believe)
You can take a look at all the reported incidents (a couple of hundred in just a few days)
You can also choose to take or upload a photo. Please note you shouldn’t show people or the license plates in question.
What’s the point? I’m not sure for now but at least things are getting flagged and that will hopefully in the long run make the authorities step back and think more about what they can do for cyclists in the city.
Want to download the App? You can head over to the Google Play Store
Hey ! Nice to find some articles about Vigilo 😀
Vigilo already helped to resolve some incidents with the help of Nantes Métropole. It’s only two or three incident, as far as I know, but it’s better than nothing.
The number of reports add more weight to the arguments of Place au Vélo, for example.
It’s an interesting app … recently I’ve found myself wanting to post up photos someplace of cars around the city. I know cyclists are no angels … BUT … this morning for example I had to go onto the road 3 times due to a car, a van, and a bus being parked on the cycle lane. I go past a certain bakers near Toutes Aides and every time I need to go into the road or avoid a car door opening. I really need to start reporting the instances. Unfortunately if I were to stop and report everything I see .. it would take me another 10 minutes to get home.