His reaction is anything but a surprise. This Monday, the association 40 million motorists got carried away with the choice of the city of Rennes to limit all of its streets to 30 km / h, for motorized vehicles. On September 1, only the main arteries will remain at 50 km / h, or only 6% of the axes of the Breton capital. Already adopted by other French cities such as Paris, Nantes or Lyon, the measure makes the association for the defense of motorists grumble, which judges it “against common sense”.
President Philippe Nozière believes that this generalization causes “a reduction in the vigilance of users. We trivialize it”. According to him, the 30 km/h limit works best when it is exceptional. This is where she “attracts attention and brings her support and respect”, assures the president. When this generalization was announced, the Rennes elected official in charge of the file had put forward another argument. “This will bring more visibility, because we realized that a large part of motorists did not know that the streets were limited to 30 km / h despite the markings on the ground and the signage”, had advanced the ecologist Valerie Faucheux.
In a press release, 40 million motorists believe that “the measure has not proven itself” in terms of road safety. An opinion that does not share the Road Prevention association, which recalls that a pedestrian has “95% chance of survival in an impact at 30 km / h, 53% at 50 km / h and only 20% at 60 kph. In fact, the generalization of the 30 zones has not revolutionized the use of the car in the city. “Frankly, it’s nice to have a big 30 painted on the ground, I don’t see any difference. These are small streets and the drivers push briskly beyond 55 km / h”, testified recently a resident of Nantes. Without development on the road, motorists are ultimately few to respect the new speed limit.