The town of Vaulx-en-Velin had seen a 5-year-old boy injured in the summer of 2020 following an urban rodeo. For two years, the town hall has launched motorcycling activities outside the city, which has reduced the number of rodeos in the town.
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Following the announcements of the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin aimed at strengthening controls to fight against urban rodeos, the mayor (PS) of Vaulx-en-Velin Hélène Geoffroy pleads Monday August 8 on franceinfo so that “the repression part remains important, but it must be coupled with the prevention part”.
“We have reduced the number of urban rodeos linked to idleness” after having set up preventive actions with the help of state services and an association, she says. The town of Vaulx-en-Velin had seen a 5-year-old boy injured in the summer of 2020 following one of these illegal gatherings.
At the same time as strengthening the means of video protection and creating a municipal motorcycle brigade to support the efforts of the national police, the town hall has launched two years ago “motorcycling outside the city with underprivileged young people”. “With this action, we very clearly have fewer rodeos in the town this year” she declares.
Regarding the legal arsenal that can now go up to 5 years in prison for a repeat offender, Hélène Geoffroy does not plead for an increase in penalties: “The 2018 law has made it possible to deal quickly with the perpetrators, especially those whose facts are repeated. Today, it would be necessary to be able to intensify controls where used vehicles are stored, which the Minister of l ‘interior’she says.
Taking the example of “very young 13 or 14 years old”the elected official explains that “the only criminal response is complicated”. “We have to be able to get them out” through education: “Many have a passion for mechanics”she adds.
Last May, Gérald Darmanin had already announced an intensification of controls. For two months, 8,000 police operations have led to 1,200 arrests and 700 seizures of vehicles, according to the minister. On Friday, two children were seriously injured during an urban rodeo in Pontoise, in Val-d’Oise. These two children, an 11-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl, were hit by a dirt bike.