As soon as you enter Paris, you will see road signs indicating that the maximum speed is limited to 30 km / h. City officials say nearly 60 percent of the city’s residents supported the measure. This was also evident from a recent survey.
A collision of a pedestrian with a car moving at a speed of 50 km / h creates 80% of the risk to human life. At a speed of 30 km / h the risk is reduced to 10%. The introduction of a speed limit in Paris is a measure by which the mayor of the Socialist Party, Anna Hidalgo, is fighting for the votes of the Greens. If she is running in the 2022 presidential election, she will need those votes. Former Environment Minister Dolphin Bateau is now on her side.
“The 30 km / h limit is a measure against noise. “Street noise is a big problem for people’s health,” she said. City officials say the limited speed reduces traffic noise by three decibels, which residents say reduces noise by 50%.
“Mistake!” Replied the French association of “40 million drivers.” Its chairman, Pierre Chasero, called the move “absurd and stupid because it incited citizens against each other.” Opponents of the West have another argument. The Cerema Public Institute for Environmental Research said that the amount of carbon dioxide emitted when driving at 30 km / h is almost 20% higher than when driving at 50 km / h.
And the leader of the conservative opposition, Rashid Dati, is very angry: “Because of Madame Hidalgo’s policy, there are traffic jams in Paris even in the middle of the night. And traffic jams lead to even more air pollution,” she said.
Until now, speed limits of up to 60 km / h were in force almost everywhere in Paris, as well as up to 50 km / h on the city’s central boulevards and along the Seine. Soberly speaking, the limit of 30 km / h is not very realistic, because the average speed in the French capital rarely exceeds 15 km / h.