Row over French mayor's one-way sign stopping people driving through his village

The mayor of a small village in south-west France has caused uproar after installing a one-way sign on one of the commune’s few roads – without consulting residents or officials of neighbouring communes.

The village of Lartigue (Gironde) has only 41 residents however one of its main roads which connects to the local D10 road and provides key access to multiple communes further along, was being heavily misused, said mayor Philippe Lamotte. 

“More and more people are using this road because it is a quicker route, particularly to get to the coast… Traffic has increased 10-fold in 15 years” he said to Le Figaro. 

Part of the issue is that route-planning applications such as Waze often point drivers towards the road in question as a short-cut to the coastal areas of Gironde. 

The mayor claims he took the decision to protect local residents.

“[The road has] a speed limit of 30 km/h, but some people drive at 80.” There are huge lorries that don't mind spending the night [on the road]… I've got two villagers whose bedrooms overlook the road, and they cannot sleep,” he said. 

Local residents, emergency service vehicles, as well as La Poste vans, and other vehicles can be issued with a pass and exempted from the restriction. 

Who is able to obtain such a pass? Anyone who the mayor likes, it seems. 

“If people ask me nicely, I give them permission,” he said in another interview with media outlet Ouest-France. 

The status of the road is also unclear, with the Lartigue mayor claiming it is a DFCI (Défense des Forêts contre l’incendie, anti-forest fire road) and therefore private, although other mayors disagree and say it is a public road.

Nearby residents affected by changes

The decision was taken unilaterally however, much to the chagrin of nearby mayors, who say the decision impacts their residents. 

“We were not notified and did not receive a copy of the order, even though it has a direct impact on our residents,” said mayor of Giscos Fabienne Barbot. 

Giscos is connected to the Lartigue via the road, and turning it one-way is causing long detours for Giscos residents. 

“[The mayor of Lartigue] lives in his own village. He does not understand the general interest and sees it only as his personal interest. He wants the village to be left alone,” she added. 

In addition, there may be no legal framework to fight the decision.

“[Mr Lamotte] issued the order in December, but the one-way sign was put up at the beginning of May. Now that the two-month appeal period has passed, we can no longer appeal against the order,” Ms Barbot added. 

She argues, however, that if the municipal order did not follow correct procedure, the deadline will have little effect on the order being overturned.

Mr Lamotte is unrepentant: “When Anne Hidalgo banned cars from the rue de Rivoli, it caused less of a stir than the one-way ban at Lartigue,” he said.