how is it going on the ring roads of other major cities in France?

From this Tuesday, the speed is lowered on this axis around Paris. Other large French cities have also carried out experiments, but not necessarily conclusive.

70 km/h, then 50 km/h. The city of Paris published its decree on Monday September 30 evening lowering the maximum authorized speed on the ring road to 50 km/h, with the exception of the portion between Porte de Saint-Cloud and Porte d’Issy, as well as on the entrance and exit ramps.

The town hall announced last Friday that this change would take effect from Tuesday October 1, applying gradually until it was generalized across the entire belt on October 10. “This speed limit is not applicable to drivers of priority general interest vehicles and to drivers of general interest vehicles benefiting from passage facilities.“, specifies the city of Paris in its decree.

The town hall explains that the passage to 50 km/h will allow “a reduction in the stopping distancet” and “an increase in the field of vision” Who “reduce the risk of serious bodily injury, particularly in the event of lane changes or sudden braking“. This change therefore responds “a requirement for road safety and prevention of risks of serious bodily injury, particularly for drivers of motorized two-wheelers who are particularly exposed to these risks“, according to the decree. It is also specified that this measure aims to “limit pollution and noise pollution caused by traffic on this axis“.

However, Paris is not the only municipality in France to modify the speed of its ring road, far from it. In Lille, for example in February 2019, the city had experienced all the boulevard peripheral at 70km/h instead of 90… to finally only perpetuate these 20km/h less on certain portions.

Ditto for Rennes, this time, in 2015. The Breton capital tried the experiment of 70 km/h for a year on its ring road, before returning to 90. At the time, the impact study showed that pollution did not decrease, but rather on the contrary, it even deteriorated slightly by lowering the speed.

Elsewhere, in Lyon, we have been driving at 70 km/h on the ring road since 2019 instead of 90. And in Toulouse, where motorists drive at 90 km/h on the ring road, it is not “no question of changing“or lower the speed, the mayor of the pink city insisted again recently. The same goes for the Bordeaux ring road.

The Paris ring road is therefore for the moment the only one in France to have lowered its speed this much, despite opposition from the prefect or the government. For its part, Cerema (Center for studies and expertise on risks, environment, mobility and planning), establishment dependent on the Ministry of Ecological Transition, believes that a vehicle that drives slower is also more polluting.