In praise of the...French...?!?

[ComedyPilot]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26599010

It seems our Gallic chums across the channel (chanel) are more likely to tell the motorists what to do, rather than leave them to choke the city out.

Can you imagine Mr Car-Obsessed, Top-Gear-Loving, UK Motorist (who has invested heavily in the 'freedom' offered in the lying car adverts) accepting being told he cannot drive?

I use the male descriptive, but it applies equally to UK female car obsessed population.

 

[Brandane]

Channel = la manche, mon ami .
Chanel smells nice.

 

[gavroche]

They would not do that in the UK because "money is king" and money always comes first.

 

[sidevalve]

[QUOTE 2979765, member: 259"]I was in the outskirts of Paris on Friday. The sky was yellow.

Too many diesel engines and not enough wind.[/QUOTE]
That could be due to the french diet

 

[Brandane]

Here is the key difference between what is happening in Paris, and what would likely happen in a similar situation in any UK city:

On Friday, public transport was made free of charge for three days in an attempt to encourage people to leave their cars at home. This measure will continue on Monday.

In Britain we would just get hit with the stick, and there would be no carrot. As usual .

 

[vernon]

They would not do that in the UK because "money is king" and money always comes first.

A watered down version has been proposed near Sheffield...

 

[Mattonsea]

Free public transport as well , bless the French!

 

[Cubist]

I think the point that they made public transport free for the periods of reduced traffic is telling. It's clearly an emergency measure that will cost a serious amount of money to implement, itself an indication of how seriously they are taking the pollution levels. It may help to relieve the pollution levels, although a good stiff breeze might be cheaper, but not a sustainable solution unfortunately.

Has anyone got any links to London air quality data since the introduction of congestion charges?

 

[gavroche]

[QUOTE 2979765, member: 259"]I was in the outskirts of Paris on Friday. The sky was yellow.

Too many diesel engines and not enough wind.[/QUOTE]
Are you sure it was not the sunset?

 

[vernon]

I think the point that they made public transport free for the periods of reduced traffic is telling. It's clearly an emergency measure that will cost a serious amount of money to implement, itself an indication of how seriously they are taking the pollution levels. It may help to relieve the pollution levels, although a good stiff breeze might be cheaper, but not a sustainable solution unfortunately.

Has anyone got any links to London air quality data since the introduction of congestion charges?

The statistics are likely to be affected by confounding factors like the population reduction of cars without catalytic converters and the increasing use of particulate filtering in diesels.

 

[Cubist]

The statistics are likely to be affected by confounding factors like the population reduction of cars without catalytic converters and the increasing use of particulate filtering in diesels.

Granted, but in a comparable city, the graph lines should follow roughly the same curve, which would help to show that inevitable reduction in a control city, in order to show the increased benefit of the measures taken. So for example if particulate content of air in Birmingham reduces over time by 20% due to improved emissions, then you would expect a city with congestion measures to improve by that 20% plus whatever the congestion measures achieve. Unless of course congestion charges keep all the Prius drivers in Wolverhampton, and just leaves 1970s routemasters belching out filth across the city......

 

[ASC1951]

... Unless of course congestion charges keep all the Prius drivers in Wolverhampton.......

Prius drivers? Wolverhampton? When I was at school in Walsall the good people of Wolverhampton were scratching their heads about the horse and cart.

 

[oldfatfool]

Yup in the UK you can pay to pollute, rather then be paid not to, shows how much we really care about our enviroment.

 

[slowmotion]

My wild guess....
Paris is a long way from the coast compared to London. As a result, London might have higher windspeeds to disperse air pollution.

Warning: this may be utter bunk. I need a very generous research grant to develop my model.

 

[asterix]

I'm sure I read that the Scandinavians are the grateful recipients of a lot of our pollution. So why should we worry?