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As usual ‘, a declaration was enough to create panic: on September 25, the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, declared on BFM that “the car that must not enter [dans la ville] will be flashed, much like with a speed control radar, and it will be fined “. Brrrrr … Add to this the publication, a week earlier, of a decree bringing to eleven the number of metropolises forced to establish a low emission zone (ZFE) by January 1, 2021 at the latest, and the cut is full: owners of vintage cars – vintage cars or not – already find themselves pushed outside the limits of Paris and Greater Paris, but also the metropolises of Lyon, Grenoble, Aix-Marseille, Nice, Toulon, Toulouse, Montpellier, Strasbourg and Rouen. And beware of those who try to dodge: they will be greeted by a radar!
Derogation on the hot seat?
For the old ones, two scenarios emerge: if they are not registered in collection but with a normal gray card, they will be de facto subject to traffic restrictions, more or less severe from one city to another. Thus, in Paris, gasoline from before 1997 and diesels from before 2001 are already excluded during the week. On the other hand, vehicles over 30 with a collector’s registration card benefit from a pass in the capital, within Greater Paris and in Grenoble. However, it is rumored that this exemption could “jump” from next year! However, according to Jean-Louis Blanc, president of the French Federation of Vintage Vehicles (FFVE), “Classic cars represent less than 1% of the fleet, they run fifteen times less than the average and the share of diesels is less than 5%: there is therefore no reason for them to be excluded from cities”.In short, the FFVE wants to be reassuring, especially as the metropolises it has already approached have all been receptive.
Radarize Crit’Air: cotton!
The other fear of the owners of banned vehicles is that they will soon be tracked down by automatic radars. Here again, nothing is done: tests will be carried out, especially in Paris, where it is rumored that the eco-tax portals of the ring road would be requisitioned. But the task promises to be difficult. Already, the mobility orientation law of December 2019, which authorizes such automated control, also limits its scope. This one cannot in fact monitor “more than 15% of the average daily number of vehicles circulating within the zone”.How to respect such a constraint? Mystery. Another problem, much more thorny: for the system to be fair, it must take into account all exemptions. And there are many: vintage cars (as we have seen), but also intervention, general interest, moving, refrigerated, delivery vehicles and, above all, carrying a disabled parking card. How to avoid wrongly sanctioning them? Which file other than those of the gray cards and Crit’Air thumbnails will have to be queried? Re-mystery. Finally, the last point: the highway code will have to be adapted in order to be able, in the future, to issue fines without questioning the holders of the gray card of the free-rider vehicle (principle of the owner-pays). In short, given the pitfalls, “ZFE radars” are not for tomorrow. But their threat already hangs over the city.
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