Four radars supposed to detect the number of people in vehicles will be deployed in November in a town in the south of France. Users understand the idea without being really convinced.
The city of Lyon is crossed by a highway. In the 70s, the idea was to have 15, but fortunately for the residents, only one saw the light of day in the end. Since 2020, it is no longer called A6/A7, but M6/M7since it was downgraded to urban boulevard. At the same time, some of its paths were adorned with luminous diamonds to symbolize those which are reserved for carpooling. That is to say to motorists traveling in pairs or more.
After a so-called educational period, the city of Lyon will get down to business by deploying radars by November to measure the number of people in cars. The objective is of course to discourage solo drivers from using special carpool lanes. Jean-Charles Kohlhaas, vice-president of the Lyon metropolitan area in charge of travel, recalls that these radars “can recognize the presence of people in a passenger compartment thanks to the temperature that their bodies give off. So if you put an inflatable doll in the passenger seat, you won’t pass through. Ultimately, the objective is to limit the boulevard to 50 km/hwith some red lights and pedestrian crossings.
The Lyonnais do not view thermal radars favorably
The arrival of thermal radars is not warmly welcomed by Lyon motorists. One of them, Saad, has the impression that the carpool lane “wastes more time than anything else because there are always traffic jams” and especially thinks that “anything is good to make money ”. For Sonia, the measure is disconnected from reality: “[…] sometimes, before or after work, we have to drop off the children, go shopping, so we can’t pick up other people”.
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A motorist “flashed” by a thermal radar while alone in the carpool lane faces €135 fine. Alister understands the punishment. “I tell myself that receiving fines is not so bad because otherwise people will do anything. Using the car is a question of mentality and planning but people like to be alone in this personal space”. Indeed, according to a study carried out in 2022, only 32% of people are willing to carpool, and only as a driver.
Source: Le Figaro