Paris bans up to 60% of its cars as heatwave worsens pollution. Reuters
JUNE 28th 2019
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily
Paris’ Implements Ban on 60% of All Registered Cars as Heatwaves Hit Western Europe
A ban of more than half of the cars registered in the region of Paris has been legalised, prohibiting them from its roads as a response to the panics of a record heatwave that’s worsened the country’s air pollution, and is, according to officials, the most drastic measures ever taken in the country thus far.
There was already a ban imposed on Wednesday, that prohibited the use of older and less efficient cars. Said ban was due to remain in place as long as the hot weather lasts, the city council said, especially within the city’s A86 second ring-road; a road that’s known to encompass the city of Paris and the 79 towns around it.
Around nearly five million vehicles registered in the Ile-de-France area around Paris were involved in the ban, which totals for about 60% of all registered vehicles in Paris, data firm AAA DATA said. A ban in record numbers said to be the most drastic measure taken in Paris thus far, if not the whole country.
The driving ban was imposed under the “Crit’Air” coloured stickers system, classifying cars by their age, as well as by their pollution level, to help decipher whether or not they’re appropriate for the roads under Paris’ present conditions. The only cars allowed on the roads were the sort that were electric or hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, petrol cars that’d been registered after January of 2006 ,and diesel cars that’d been registered after January of 2011. In this way, the rules of the ban were conforming to Crit’Air levels 1 and 2 out of 5 in terms of vehicular safety and pollution.
Though the ban did succeed in lightening the traffic around Paris, it did not do so in any significant numbers. According to numerous drivers, they and many others were simply ignoring the restrictions, seeing as the fines for not adhering to them were low enough not to bother - only 68 euros for cars and 135 euros for vans.
Water usage has also seen some improvements in restriction on Thursday by French authorities as Western Europe was met with an intense wave of heat all around, and water overall had become more difficult to control given the crisis.
Motorist federation FFAC’s (among other car owner lobbies) Julian Constantini felt the ban was in no way efficient in reducing pollution, and that it could be simplified to morale panic. “There is a kind of hysteria about pollution. It is a bit over the top,” he said.
The city of Paris is set to tighten regulations sometime after July the 1st as temperatures are expected to increase even further. As such, it’s expected that cars with level 4 stickers; these being cars with diesel engines registered between the years 2001 and 2005, as well as trucks registered between 2006 and 2009, will see permanent bans within the A86 ring-road area, possibly even after the heatwaves have ceased.
As a means to meet the net zero emissions target by the year 2050, the city council plans to continually tighten regulations around cars in this manner at least until the year 2030, up until a point where the only cars allowed on the Greater Paris roads are either electric or hydrogen-fuelled cars. It is hoped that this may be an eventual first step to popularising these types of cars even further, possibly implementing them country-wide in future.
By Patryk Krych | The World Daily
