It’s hard to make your way on the Parisian sidewalks when you’re a pedestrian. Between electric scooters, cyclists and motorists who sometimes forget the rules of the road… We can say that incivility is commonplace in the capital. So in an attempt to calm things down and make things safe, the City of Paris is launching themed days supervised, in particular, by its very young municipal police. The first day begins this Tuesday, March 29 on the theme of pedestrians.
- What is this day all about?
In addition to its usual missions, the municipal police of Paris will do more pedagogy through times of exchanges or even by distributing flyers to Parisians and Parisiennes. If necessary, the agents will not hesitate to verbalize all those who commit infractions. In all, these are more than 200 operations which will be carried out everywhere in Paris, at different times of the day and supervised by nearly 2,000 agents : municipal police officers, ISVP (city of Paris security inspectors), ASP (Paris surveillance agents), parks and gardens agents, mediators, school point agents, etc.
The aim is also to recall the missions of the municipal police which are organized around the following four major themes: combating incivility, ensuring public tranquility, regulating movement and protecting the most vulnerable populations. The City wants to be transparent about the actions taken by its agents.
- Why did you choose the theme of pedestrians?
According to the City of Paris, the place of pedestrians on the sidewalks is always thinner while since 2010, the number of pedestrians has increased. Of the eight million daily trips in Paris, half are done on foot. Regarding accidents involving pedestrians, it should be noted that pedestrians represent approximately 20% of road accident victims in Paris. A trend that has been decreasing since 2018, but the figures should be taken with caution due to Covid-19, which has changed the habits of Parisians over the past two years. Still according to the City, in 2020, 1,041 pedestrians were victims of accidents in Paris. Among them, 15 were killed and 78 seriously injured.
- When will the next thematic day take place?
It is planned end of April, this time on the theme of noise and noise pollution. The goal, according to the City, is to have one day a month around the major missions of the municipal police to raise awareness among Parisians, remind them of the rules to follow and fight against incivility.