Only vehicles whose number on the license plate is even will able to circulate on Tuesday in Paris and twenty-two cities in the inner suburbs. These traffic restructuring aims to reduce pollution that has settled in recent days on the capital. Public transport will be free on Tuesday and alternating traffic will not apply to cars used for carpooling.
Anne Hidalgo, Socialist Mayor of Paris, already demanded Monday the establishment of alternating traffic, but authorities had preferred her for binding measures, such as speed limits. This time, Michel Cadot, Prefect of Police, said yes to alternating traffic device that will be repeated Wednesday that the “situation found by the Committee of Experts’ request, he added. “Our citizens can not accept further delays while strong measures are needed to address the health risk” , had thundered Mrs. Hidalgo.
The device had been introduced in Paris when pollution peaks in October 1997 and renewed in March 2014 and March 2015. According to the Agency for Environment and Energy Management (ADEME), Ile-de-France, road traffic is responsible for two thirds of the nitrogen dioxide emissions and 55% of particulate emissions in Paris.
Effective measure?
Fine particles (with a diameter less than 2.5 microns) are particularly harmful to health. Penetrating into the deeper branching airways and blood, they can cause cancer, asthma, allergies, respiratory diseases or cardiovascular diseases. Nitrogen dioxide NO2, especially from the exhasts of diesel engines, promote asthma or lung diseases in children.
But the effectiveness of alternating traffic is questioned. It “does not mean anything because it does not target the most polluting vehicles” , contrasted spring denier a parliamentary report. The measure had had a limited effect after the peak of March 2014 pollution was found Airparif, the body responsible for monitoring the air quality in the capital.
Episode de pollution en cours et origine des polluants https://t.co/1Ugrbfz2qW pic.twitter.com/jh9sxCOWgb
— Airparif (@Airparif) December 5, 2016
The carcinogenic diesel
Its impact would have been greater if, instead of targeting the vehicles by their license plate, they were according to their pollution levels, it noted. A new device, based on a tag system, to replace alternating traffic beginning in 2017.
WHO has classified as carcinogenic diesel sure and emissions of gasoline engines as probable carcinogens. According Airparif 1.6 million Parisians, and a Parisian two, are exposed “to an air that does not meet the regulations”.
The microparticles
The microparticles, the size of the micrometer (.mu.m, one million times smaller than a meter) are not visible to the naked eye. Are those measured in air through: – PM10 particles of less than 10 micrometres size (6 to 8 times smaller than the thickness of a hair or the size of a cell) and which penetrate into the respiratory tract. – Fine particles PM2.5 or less than or equal to 2.5 microns (such as bacteria) that can lodge in the deepest branches of the airways (alveoli).
They have three origins: – direct air emissions (industry, domestic, business, trade, craft, particularly heating, including heating with wood, and finally the traffic – the resuspended particle that. were deposited on the ground under the action of the wind or by the vehicles along the streets -. the chemical conversion of gases for example, in certain conditions, the nitrogen dioxide can be converted into particles and nitrate dioxide. of sulfur to sulphate.
