2023-09-13 22:00:00
135 euros will soon be due in Strasbourg if cars use the environmental lane for carpooling without permission. Radar systems monitor the regulation. Test other cities.
Two radar systems will go into operation on the city highway in Strasbourg, France, at the beginning of November, with fines also threatening vehicles that stick to the speed limit. Drivers who sit alone in the car and illegally use the left lane, which has been reserved for carpools or cars with at least two occupants during rush hour traffic since the end of 2021, will be flashed. The lane is also open to electric cars with a green French environmental sticker, regardless of the number of occupants. A new traffic sign – a white diamond on a blue background – indicates the regulation. Anyone who ignores them will face a fine of 135 euros. In France, for example, the punishment is just as severe if someone illegally blocks a disabled parking space.
Carpool lanes are also monitored with speed cameras in Grenoble, Rennes, Lyon, Lille and Nantes
Separate lanes for carpooling are also being tested in Grenoble, Rennes, Lyon, Lille and Nantes. These are sections that are a few kilometers long, not long stretches. Radar systems will also be installed there soon. As the Paris Ministry of the Environment recently announced, the regulation, which has so far been sporadically checked by the police, is so often ignored that the hoped-for success of the separate lanes – namely getting to your destination more quickly as a carpool in rush hour traffic – is at risk. The speed cameras can detect whether one or more people are sitting in the car.
The aim of the low emission zone: to reduce pollutant emissions through fewer commuter cars
The Ministry of the Environment expects the separate lanes to reduce pollutant emissions if commuters use fewer cars than before. Less traffic jams and faster routes in the reserved lane should encourage people to carpool. Taxis and buses are also allowed to use the lane.
As the spokeswoman for the city of Strasbourg, Laura Martin, said, the aim is to reduce the number of commuters who drive alone to the Alsace metropolis. Currently, 37.5 percent of all trips in the city are made by car. On average, a car is occupied by 1.4 people. In order to encourage carpooling, a platform will be set up in the fall through which employees in the industrial region can network. The city has also reserved 100,000 euros for financial incentives until 2025.
Innovative solutions in Nantes and Lyon to promote carpooling
“If there are no controls, people do not adhere to the rules of the road traffic regulations. As part of the low emission zone, we want to reduce pollution from road traffic and thus the number of cars and promote carpooling,” said the Vice President of the European Metropolis of Strasbourg (EMS). , Béatrice Bulou, of the newspaper “Les Dernières Nouelles d’Alsace”. After a month-long test phase of the new radar system, notices of fines will also be sent out.
In Nantes, western France, there has been a special lane for carpooling on one of the main traffic axes into the city since June. They say you can get to the center eight minutes faster than usual. Things are smart in Lyon: There are not only apps that you can use to form carpools, but also around a dozen stops along the route where people wait for a ride. This means drivers can spontaneously create a carpool and turn into the special lane.
There are also sometimes lanes reserved for carpooling in the Netherlands, Great Britain and the USA. In Germany, however, a test in Düsseldorf was ended again at the beginning of 2021. The special lanes, which were intended to avert a diesel driving ban, had led to long traffic jams, especially at the exits of the A46.
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