“There are 470 schools in Marseille, in streets which are sometimes very busy, where the speed is not respected, and therefore 30 km/h signs must be imposed everywhere in front of the schools”, affirms Benoît Payan on France Blue Provence.
The speed around schools in Marseille will be limited to 30 km / h, and 1,500 scooters will be removed in the city, reveals the mayor (PS) Benoît Payan, guest Monday, September 11 of the morning of France Bleu Provence. “I made the decision to lower the speed in front of the schools, all the schools in Marseille. A few meters before school and a few meters after”, declares Benoît Payan. Last Friday, a 4-year-old girl was seriously injured leaving the study of a school in Bonneveine in the 8th arrondissement, hit by a car. According to France Bleu Provence, it is now out of danger, but the mayor says he wants to act to avoid this type of accident.
“You also have to put on speed bumps and that’s what I’m asking the metropolis. I’m going to make this change of gear because it seems necessary to me, because it seems obligatory to me, and it’s common sense There are 470 schools in Marseille, in streets that are sometimes very busy, where the speed is not respected, and therefore 30 km/h signs must be imposed everywhere in front of the schools”, affirms the elected official.
Put cameras “in front of all schools”
Benoît Payan hopes to quickly implement this speed limit: “As soon as the city provides me with the signs, my decree is ready. It’s about the safety of children, and I don’t want political issues to pollute something that seems to me to be of the essential, normal security, which we owe to families, teachers and especially to children”. The mayor of Marseille is also waiting for the green light from the State to install cameras “in front of all the schools”. But according to him, passing Marseille everywhere at 30 km/h, “it doesn’t make sense, the city is very big”he elaborates. “On the other hand, we will have more pedestrianization” in the Phocaean city.
Regarding scooters, the mayor has decided to take radical action: “There are 4,000 scooters in Marseille, I decided to remove 1,500 right away, quickly. Indeed, it’s just about anything, it’s poorly regulated. I asked operators to do drastic things, I see that sometimes they have dragged their feet, so each time they drag their feet, I apply a sanction. And so today, we are going to remove 1,500 scooters. If that keep it up, we’ll keep removing it.”
The councilor has not yet decided to remove this or that operator but he is waiting for a start from them. “I want us to raise the age from which we can take the scooter, to increase the difficulty, there are people who take the scooter without paying and who do anything, so we have to secure the scooter. I tell the operators: be careful, pick them up, put them in the required areas. If the operator doesn’t do it, it doesn’t work. Today, we are removing 1,500 scooters and if it continues like this that’s another 1,500.”