If your car is older than 1997 and you drive through Paris, you will get a ticket.

In recent months it has been said that many of the great European cities urgently need to considerably reduce environmental pollution, especially in their city centres. One of the most involved is the French capital, Paris. It has recently introduced a serious measure that will come into force on 1 July and will affect a high percentage of Parisians and residents of the surrounding areas.

Residents of Paris and people who drive through it will face a real problem if their vehicle is older than 1997. The mayor of the capital, the Transport Authorities Group (GART) and the Minister of the Environment have today approved a law that bans cars registered before 1997, whether petrol or diesel, from the city centre on weekdays.

The reform affects not only cars

This new anti-pollution law also affects two-wheeled motor vehicles, that is, motorcycles. All motorcycles registered before 1 June 1999 will also be barred from the streets of central Paris.

On top of this comes the plan that came into force on 1 July 2015, which banned heavy vehicles registered before 1 October 2001 from the town centre.
This measure will affect a high percentage of the current vehicle fleet in Paris, specifically 10% of it. To this figure one would have to add the number of unregistered cars in the capital that regularly drive its streets.

Control and penalties

In 2017 the fine will be 68 euros for cars and 135 for heavy vehicles. To easily check that no vehicle “sneaks in” without access to the restricted zones, the authorities will provide stickers, which must be placed on the windscreen from 1 October, and which will identify the pollution class to which each vehicle belongs.

The penalties the authorities will impose on anyone who breaks this regulation will not be very harsh, but only at the beginning. The initial amount will be 35 euros, but in early 2017 it will rise to 68 euros for cars and 135 for heavy vehicles.

What would happen in Spain with a similar law?

We would not like the main Spanish cities to take the French capital as an example, although Madrid is already considering some serious measures that would make the speed limit of 70 km/h on certain roads, depending on that day’s pollution, look anecdotal. We say we would not like such a restriction because a large number of cars would be left unable to circulate, not because we do not want to reduce high environmental pollution.

Our current vehicle fleet has an average age of 11.6 years, while in France this figure does not even reach 9 years. Therefore, a very high percentage of cars would be left outside the city centres of any city that adopted a law similar to the Parisian one.

Source | Le Monde