A woman was fined €1,200 for causing a traffic jam during the Tour de France
Image credit: pedestrian.tv
A French woman was fined €1,200 ($1,357; £1,028) for waving a cardboard sign in the path of the Tour de France riders, causing a massive disaster.
When her sign collided with German rider Tony Martin, the peloton was 45 kilometres (28 miles) from the finish of the first stage.
In one of the tournament’s worst-ever wrecks, he crashed to the ground, causing hundreds of other riders to follow suit.
The 31-year-old woman was also fined a symbolic one euro by France’s professional cyclist union. According to the AFP news agency, the woman’s identity was suppressed when she was subjected to a barrage of online abuse as a spectator at the elite event.
The event, which occurred in June, was captured on video and has since been widely circulated online.
The woman is seen holding a placard that reads “Grandma and Granddad” in German. She is gazing away from the approaching peloton while carrying her sign too far into the road and does not notice them approaching. Two cyclists were forced to withdraw from the Tour as a result of the incident, while another eight were treated for injuries.
The accident caused a five-minute delay in the race between Brest and Landerneau in northwestern France, while bikes and riders were untangled and cleared from the route.
Several competitors, including Spain’s Marc Soler, who shattered both arms, had to withdraw from the race.
Days later, the woman surrendered to police custody. Prosecutors had previously sought a four-month suspended prison sentence for the woman, accusing her of endangering lives and injuring others without intending to.
According to AFP, prosecutor Solenn Briand confirmed in court that she had expressed regret and recognised how harmful her actions had been. Christian Prudhomme, the tour director, has taken a more conciliatory tone since the major pile-up.