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Soon, new radars in the streets of Paris?

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The Editor

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During her 12 years in office, Anne Hidalgo has tirelessly battled against cars in the capital. It seems that her successor has decided to continue a similar policy to combat road safety issues in the streets of Paris. A battle that might soon lead to the introduction of new speed cameras.

We've certainly seen it during the entire campaign for the Parisian municipal elections in recent years: road safety has become a key issue for the city. The reason? There are more and more frequent accidents involving bikes, pedestrians, public transport vehicles, and usually, cars, trucks, and vans. To try to tackle these tragedies, measures are increasing.


A battle far from won

In August 2021, the Paris city hall decided to lower the maximum speed allowed on the capital's streets, reducing it from 50 to 30 km/h. This was a decision we could only applaud, combining environmental and safety arguments, which is great!

It took quite a while for the acceptance by the (too many) drivers of the City of Light. Indeed, according to figures revealed by Le Parisien in 2024, since this speed limit reduction, the number of speeding tickets has skyrocketed within the city, especially at 3 of the 4 radars installed in the 30 zone, which haven’t stopped flashing at wayward drivers for the last 5 years. For reference, the number of tickets on Avenue Daumesnil (12th) jumped from 389 in September 2020 to 8,145 in September 2021. In 2023 alone, over 74,000 people were fined.


Solutions to Consider

These restrictions continue to frustrate Parisian drivers, even almost 5 years after their implementation, as they believe that driving at 30 km/h without traffic is impossible. The only problem is that many of them tend to exceed the speed limits, putting others’ lives at risk. For instance, on the Boulevard des Batignolles in 2024, a pedestrian lost their life on this route where motor vehicles sometimes travel at over 70 km/h. To try to reduce the risks, the City of Paris might request, starting from January 2027, the installation of fixed speed control radars, following a new legislation that allows their placement in municipalities. Although, as of now, the city hasn’t expressed its intention to enhance its current fleet of... In total, it's a piece of news to keep in mind in order to try to calm the situation for the safety and comfort of everyone.