Le Figaro Nice
Crit'Air 4 or Crit'Air 5?
This is the question at the start of 2023 when some private vehicles may no longer be able to circulate in the center of Nice.
And for good reason, the Baie des Anges, like other French cities, is subject to restrictive low emission zones (ZFE).
A subject which is not new in Nice since for a year already, the most polluting heavy goods vehicles and commercial vehicles, classified Crit'Air 5, have been prohibited from entering the very center of the city as well as certain arteries such as the Promenade des Anglais, the Voie Mathis or the Boulevard Grosso to the west.
"And that's a very good thing, I don't see why we should pay for more pollution when we walk, it's the kind of measure we need"
, immediately slices a retiree on a walk on the Ride.
However, since January 1, the criteria have been slightly revised.
If the scope of the ZFE remains the same, professionals with a Crit'Air 4 truck or utility vehicle are in turn banned from the axes concerned, as are individuals with a Crit'Air 5 sticker, i.e. diesel vehicles dating from before 2000.
“In truth it only concerns a few hundred vehicles.
Admittedly, we are bringing individuals into the loop, but it is more of a symbolic order than anything else,
wishes to reassure Gaël Nofri, the deputy mayor responsible for transport.
And then also remember that many subsidies are available to motorists concerned to change their vehicle.
As far as professionals are concerned, the aim is to encourage them to renew their fleets.
»
A fixed fine of 68 euros
All the more a symbol that motorists circulating in a ZFE with an unauthorized vehicle or without a Crit'Air sticker will be very little - if at all - checked, as the transport assistant admits half-heartedly .
"What is certain is that no municipal police force will be mobilized on this,"
he said, calling on the state to take its responsibilities by calling on the national police.
And to add:
"If we want to talk about the environment and the reduction of fine particle emissions in the city center, let's focus instead on
the abolition of the Saint Isidore toll
, which alone represents the entire impact of a state-imposed EPZ.
Note, however, that offenders are liable to a fixed fine of 68 euros.
Read alsoWhy a baker's electricity bill can be multiplied by seven
"
It's easy to be very virtuous with public opinion with other people's money
"
Patrick Mortigliengo, who runs a transport company with a fleet of 40 heavy goods vehicles in Carros, near Nice, sees in this hardening of the ZFEs
"a vast humbug"
.
From his point of view, the government's hostility towards diesel vehicles is comparable to the rejection of nuclear power a few years ago.
“We absolutely had to stop nuclear power and that's where we are today.
And there, they would like me to invest hundreds of thousands of euros in electric trucks?
Not even in dreams !
He gets annoyed.
Electricity sucks, it's like gas.
I was the first to buy gas trucks in the Alpes-Maritimes, as a result the costs skyrocketed and the trucks became unsaleable.
And then how do you get the power back to the roadside to recharge the trucks.
It's easy to be very virtuous with public opinion with other people's money.
