Every sensitive subject gets its own "weather report." This is the response devised by Paris City Hall to try to appease the most heated controversies of the moment. Would the Seine be swimmable for the Paris 2024 Games? Two months before the start of the competitions, City Hall presented the river's weekly water quality report river. Every Friday – before a temporary takeover by Paris 2024 – pretty curved lines on a graph showed whether or not bacteria levels were within regulatory thresholds. Since Friday, October 18, it's been the turn of the ring road around central Paris – whose lowering of speed to 50 km/h on October 1 has been the talk of the town – to have its health assessment available to all on the Paris municipality's internet site, Paris.fr.
For opponents of the move to reduce the speed limit from 70 km/h to 50 km/h, starting with Valérie Pécresse, president of the Paris region and a member of the right-wing Les Républicains party, driving slower wouldn't have that much impact on reducing noise or air pollution. And that's a moot point when it comes to traffic jams. The right also condemned the measure as antisocial. At the end of September, the region announced the introduction of a monthly barometer with indicators on noise, air pollution, speed and traffic jams, so that every resident in Greater Paris could assess "the impact of decisions taken by the City of Paris."
Socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo's teams use a similar but more frequent tool: five figures published every Friday, giving the "weather forecast" of the urban freeway compared with the previous year. These numbers are all based on "raw data, factual, objectified elements," in response to "fake news," explained David Belliard, the ecologist deputy in charge of transforming public space and transport.
The road's first official bulletin covers the week of September 30 to October 4. It's a transition period, since the speed signs have been replaced from October 10. No matter. "The publicity is working. There are adjustments" in behavior, and already some positive effects, comments Belliard, alongside Patrick Bloche, Hidalgo's first deputy, Dan Lert, the elected representative in charge of the environmental transition, and representatives of the environment and major projects departments. While daytime traffic speed remained stable (37.7 km/h), it fell between 10 pm and 6 am (55.1 km/h), as had night-time noise pollution (- 2.6 decibels), the report stated. Air pollution was also down, as were traffic jams (- 37%) and accidents (- 68%).
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