For the third consecutive day, alternating traffic was renewed Thursday in the Paris region, with the hope that motorists will show more civility often criticized for this measure to reduce the peak of winter pollution, unprecedented in a decade.
This device will also set up for the first time in Lyon and Villeurbanne, starting Friday, while speed limits are lowered within five departments of Hauts-de-France region since Wednesday from 6pm and will remain until 6pm on Friday.
Much of France suffers from several days of an episode of particulate pollution, the suspended dust that blacken the walls and cause respiratory diseases and cancers.
A record peak of pollution
In addition to the Paris and Lyon regions, Grenoble, Rouen, Dunkirk, Calais, Lille, Amiens, the urban areas of the Savoie region, the Hautes-Pyrenees, Tarn-et-Garonne, Haute-Garonne and Aveyron, around of the city of Rodez, are concerned.
Thursday in the capital and 22 communes in the inner suburbs, vehicles with the number on the license plate that is even, will be able to circulate as well as those who carpool or enjoy one of the many exemptions.
The peak of pollution suffered by Paris and its region for one week is the most intense and longest since at least ten years , according Airparif, the body responsible for monitoring the air quality in the region.
The weapon “most effective” against pollution
It is due to an increase particulate emissions, especially related to wood heating and traffic, combined with the extension of favorable weather conditions for keeping them close to the ground, he says.
While the effectiveness of alternating traffic is challenged, the general secretary of defense and security zone of Paris, Marc Meunier, appealed Wednesday to “citizenship” of the Parisians, he described as “the weapon more effective ” against pollution.
“It is essential that there is an awareness among our fellow citizens, all are concerned” , has he said, convinced that the device can lead to a “lighter traffic from 30 to 40% ” and reduced ” all ” from the traffic in the emission of polluting substances.
42,000 premature deaths
Tuesday, the first day of alternating traffic , traffic had been reduced by 5 to 10% compared to a typical day and its impact has been low on pollution, according Airparif.
Wednesday, the measure was “fairly well implemented,” said Mr. Miller.
Deploring “the silence of the government” , the President of the Grand Paris, Patrick Ollier, on Wednesday urged the establishment of a “government scheme to the extent of this episode of unprecedented pollution” .
Airparif plans Thursday for another “possible exceedance of the alert threshold” (more than 80 micrograms / m3 particles) in the Paris region, where pollution episode could continue until the weekend because of anticyclone installed on a part of Europe.
The air pollution is causing 42,000 premature deaths in France, according to WHO, and cost him more than 100 billion euros per year, according to a Senate report.
