Paris slams on the brakes and sets 30km/h speed limit to reduce pollution
That will depend partly on whether drivers get so fed up with the speed limit that they choose to commute in other ways.
To further dissuade drivers from taking vehicles into the city, authorities are also getting rid of 60,000 of the Paris’ 144,000 parking spaces on public roads to make them “more accessible to everyone,” and will better utilize underground parking. Some sidewalks will be widened — allowing more walking space, as well as trees and plants — and new cycle lanes will be installed.
According to a poll by the Parisian City Hall, 59% of the city’s residents were in favor of the new limit, which came into effect on Monday, but opposition was much higher in the wider Île-de-France region, at 61%.
A delivery driver stuck in traffic on Monday said that the change had been “terrible.”
“With deliveries, it’s terrible. We don’t have time. I was in traffic jams everywhere. We don’t have time,” he told CNN affiliate BFMTV, which did not name him.
Another driver said it was as if car drivers were traveling on “electric scooters,” calling the rule “crazy.”
Parisian Deputy Mayor David Belliard, who is responsible for transport, told BFMTV that the hope was the limit would put more people off driving altogether and encourage more walking, use of public transport and bikes.
On Sunday, he posted a tweet to deflect online criticism of the new rule.
Noise pollution will also halve, they estimate, saying that traffic noise had negative physical and psychological impacts, including stress, insomnia and depression.
The rule change follows a public consultation held in October and November 2020, involving more than 5,700 people.
