Paris car ban stopped after one day
Source: The Guardian
Paris car ban stopped after one day
Anne Penketh in Paris
The Guardian, Monday 17 March 2014 17.19 GMT
The French government has halted a controversial scheme to ban half of the traffic from Paris streets after a single day, claiming that the experiment aimed at curbing harmful pollution had been successful and that the vast majority of Parisians had co-operated.
"Bravo, and thank you," the ecology minister, Philippe Martin, said in a message to the residents of Paris and the surrounding region as he announced that the alternating driving scheme would end at midnight on Monday.
Under the emergency regulations, 700 police had been ordered onto the streets from dawn to ensure that only cars and motorbikes bearing odd-numbered plates were being driven.
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Martin said the government decided against extending the restrictions because the weather conditions were improving and the pollution level would not breach the safe limit on Tuesday. But experts said it would take some time to determine the impact of the car ban on the pollution levels.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/17/paris-stops-car-ban-one-day
