The embers of the 80 km / h protest are barely extinguished when a new focus of protest promises to blaze on French roads. After heated morning debates, the members of the citizens' convention on the climate adopted 60% this Friday afternoon the reduction of speed on motorways to 110 km / h. Of course, the government has full discretion not to adopt this measure, but it intervenes in a context where speed reduction has become a major ecological argument in large cities, coupled with a motivation for road safety.
After the reduction of 70 km / h adopted on the ring road, the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo promises, if she is re-elected, to reduce the speed inside the capital to 30 km / h. "Going to 30 km / h in the city is above all a matter of pacifying the city, but I am not sure that going from 130 to 110 km / h has a huge impact in terms of polluting emissions," stresses the director of the city. Respire Olivier Blond association. The ecological issue is above all to act on the engines and better control polluting emissions to prevent vehicles from emitting five times more particles today in real conditions than during approval tests. ”
"This measure has been the subject of many debates, it has the advantage of bringing a rapid and significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, justifies Guillaume, driving instructor in Bordeaux and member of the convention citizen. It also plays on the flow of traffic especially on days of major departures at tolls and therefore minimizes traffic jams. This also allows electric vehicles to optimize the autonomy of the batteries. According to him, the fact of lowering the speed leads to a reduction of 15 to 25% of greenhouse gases "without financial impact for the citizens and while respecting social justice". A study by Ademe confirms that a reduction in speed of this magnitude can reach 20% for nitrogen oxides and fine particles (PM10).
Already a petition
"I do not see the government, which is already tangled in the 80 km / h, to embark on this project, estimates Pierre Chasseray, general delegate of the association 40 million motorists. But better take the lead. ” The NGO, which fought for months against reducing speed on the roads, has just launched a petition on the Internet called "nonaux110surautoroute.com".
"We cannot make decisions right and wrong on the pretext that it is currently fashionable to wash greener than green and that the automobile and road transport are the obvious persons responsible for air pollution, ton l defense association for drivers. For her, reducing speed to 110 on highway would be too much. "How can we imagine, when in 2018 the French were more than 80% opposed to the 10 km / h reduction in speed limits on secondary roads on the grounds of road safety, that they will today endorse a reduction 20 km / h of the maximum speed allowed on highways to reduce greenhouse gases? Asks Pierre Chasseray.
This proposal would however, and the association does not deny it, a real impact in terms of energy consumption. "Admittedly, the savings linked to fuel savings generated by a 20 km / h drop in speed limits on motorways are estimated at 360 million euros," admits Pierre Chasseray. However, this sum must be put into perspective with the costs linked to the loss of time caused. All costs and benefits combined, the socio-economic balance of this measure would be around -550 million euros for French society.
