Paris has banned most cars from driving through a roughly two-square-mile area of its city center in a move to free up city space and reduce pollution.
Le Monde reported on the new ordinance, which excludes emergency vehicles, buses, taxis, people with reduced mobility, motorists living or working in the area, and "destination traffic," such as people who come to the city center for a specific reason like going to a medical appointment, shopping, or cinema visit. The city expects traffic to decrease by as much as 30% on busy roads as a result of the new rules, the publication reported.
Fewer cars on the roads is a win for public health. According to the World Health Organization, outdoor air pollution, which comes from sources like roadway traffic, wildfires, and power generation, was estimated to have caused 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide in 2019. It is also tied to a number of health problems like asthma.
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Noise pollution from traffic also affects our health. The World Health Organization estimated that at least 1.6 million healthy life years are lost annually from traffic-related noise in Western Europe (due to various stresses on the body).
Plus, the same pollution that spews out of tailpipes also affects the health of the planet — the gas we put into our tanks to make our cars go from place to place is one of the "big three" dirty fuels driving the overheating of our planet, along with coal and natural gas. As worldwide temperatures rise, we'll face even more health consequences, including hotter temperatures that put people at risk of heat-related illnesses and the increased spread of mosquito-borne illnesses.
Paris isn't the only place to enact traffic-reducing policies. For instance, the country of Wales has blocked new roadway projects and refined its project review process to cut down on carbon pollution. And Stockholm, Sweden, has announced it is banning diesel and petrol cars from entering its 20-block city center zone beginning in 2025.
Even if your city or country does not have similar policies yet, you can help reduce harmful air pollution by riding your bike more, walking, and using public transit when possible. You can also make your next car an EV, as these battery-powered vehicles produce no tailpipe pollution.
As for Paris' car ban, it has been a long time coming. In 2017, Mayor Anne Hidalgo called for an end to petrol-fueled cars on Paris roads by 2030, NPR reported.
"We are seeing a revolution in terms of mobility and on the issue of climate," said Christophe Nadjovski, the Paris deputy mayor in charge of the greening of public spaces, in response to that announcement, as NPR quoted from a France Info Radio report. "We can't wait."
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