Positive report on reduced speed limit on Paris ring road

Just one year after the introduction of the reduction of the speed limit from 80 km/h to 70 km/h on the Paris ring road, reports from the City Hall paint a positive picture of the results of this controversial measure. Accidents on the ring road are said to have reduced by 15.5 per cent, from 742 in 2013 to 627 in 2014, while the number of injuries has reduced from 908 in 2013 to 776 in 2014. Ironically, the reduced speed limit has resulted in an increase in the morning average speed from 32.6 km/h in
January 19, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Just one year after the introduction of the reduction of the speed limit from 80 km/h to 70 km/h on the Paris ring road, reports from the City Hall paint a positive picture of the results of this controversial measure.

Accidents on the ring road are said to have reduced by 15.5 per cent, from 742 in 2013 to 627 in 2014, while the number of injuries has reduced from 908 in 2013 to 776 in 2014.

Ironically, the reduced speed limit has resulted in an increase in the morning average speed from 32.6 km/h in 2013 to 38.4 km/h in 2014, while the average speed in the evening has increased from 30.3 km/h in 2013 to 33.9 km/h in 2014. These results are explained by ‘reducing the accordion effect’ and have increased journey time savings by 15 per cent in the morning and five per cent in the evening.

The decrease in the speed limit also reduced noise by 1.2 dBA at night and by 0.5 dBA during the day, which corresponds to decreases in traffic of 25 per cent and 10 per cent.

According to Christophe Najdovski of Europe Ecologie Les Vert, the results should open the debate on testing a speed limit of 50km/h on the ring road.

Related Content

  • Driver training saves lives, increases profits, reduces costs
    February 6, 2012
    An innovative UK Government initiative on work-related driver training has resulted in astonishing success, not only in terms of government objectives, but also in substantial cost-benefits for companies and public sector authorities participating in the scheme: they save lives and increase profits/reduce costs Here, we present an overview of the initiative and, overleaf, provide a detailed cost-benefit analysis which amply illustrates why it has been enthusiastically embraced by industry and the public sec
    Read More
  • Keeping people on track is RATP’s raison d’etre
    June 14, 2018
    In Paris, RATP Group’s autonomous Metro Line 1 is carrying 750,000 people a day across the city. Ben Spencer is invited into the control room to take a look at how the system works Paris is visited by millions of tourists each year, keen to see for themselves stunning attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre-Dame, the Louvre, the Seine and all the rest. But while the best-known sites of the City of Light tend to be on the surface, there is a lot going on below those iconic grand boule
    Read More
  • Traffic signals turn red to stop speeding drivers
    March 15, 2012
    David Crawford is encouraged by the spread of 'soft' speed policing 
    Read More
  • Downward trend in Scotland’s road casualties ‘good news’ says IAM Roadsmart
    June 30, 2016
    Independent road safety charity IAM RoadSmart has responded to Transport Scotland’s release of provisional headline figures for road casualties in Scotland, saying it is good news that the long term downward trends in deaths and serious injuries on Scotland’s roads continue but the figures are still far too high. The figures for road casualties reported to the police in Scotland in 2015 show that the total number of casualties fell by three per cent between 2014 and 2015 from 11,307 to 10,950, to the lo
    Read More

Highlighted Content