The date is now known. The Paris ring road is to be reduced to 50 km/h on October 1st. An irrevocable sentence?
This morning on RTL radio station, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo gave the date of the highly controversial measure she wants to implement: “Yes, for the 50 km/h, that is my decision. It will be on October 1st. We have been working on it since 2018. We have votes at the Paris council on the subject, moreover very unanimously.” Thus, the Paris ring road should be limited to 50 km/h from October 1st, compared to 70 km/h currently. A few days ago, in an interview with Ouest-France, the mayor confirmed her desire to lower the speed limit on the busiest road in Europe. If the capital’s municipal council seems to want to go all the way, can it make this decision alone?
Who has the right to limit speed on the Paris ring road?
Indeed, it is the Paris town hall which is in charge of exercising traffic police on the Paris ring road according to the highway code: “The mayor exercises traffic policing on national roads, departmental roads and communication routes within built-up areas, subject to the powers devolved to the State representative in the department on major traffic roads.”
In truth, the situation is a little more complex. The capital’s police chief also has a right of review. He could impose his veto, in certain cases, on the lowering of the speed limit to 50 km/h. Still according to the highway code, article L2512-14 specifies that: “On the axes essential to security in Paris and the proper functioning of public authorities, the Mayor of Paris exercises traffic and parking policing in compliance with the instructions taken by the Police Prefect for road developments planned by the City of Paris.”
If the dispute were to escalate, the administrative courts would have to decide. When the speed limit was reduced from 80 to 70 km/h in 2014, the town hall obtained the agreement of the Prime Minister at the time, Manuel Valls.
What are the pros and cons?
But why does Paris City Hall want to limit the speed to 50 km/h so much? What are its arguments? First and foremost, air quality. The capital emphasizes that lowering the speed to 50 km/h would reduce pollutant emissions, to which the nearly 500,000 people living around the ring road are exposed. Then, it would reduce the number of accidents on the road, and also reduce noise pollution, especially at night.
Apart from the elected officials of the capital, few personalities are in favour of lowering the speed limit on the Paris ring road. And the first argument against it comes from the Île-de-France region. Indeed, the majority of vehicles driving on this route are from the Paris region. They take the ring road every day to go to work. As a result, daily travel times could be extended for millions of motorists, and traffic jams could increase even further. The president of the region, Valérie Pécresse, was already asking in 2021 for the region to take over management of the ring road. And in 2023, the Minister of Transport at the time, Clément Beaune, called for consultation on France Info: “The ring road is managed by the city of Paris but is used three-quarters by people from the Paris region and suburbs. The least we can do is decide with the region, with the departments.”
Source: www.autoplus.fr
