ZFE in Toulouse. Automated radar checks postponed: here is the amount of the fines provided
By Gabriel Kenedi
Published on
Implemented since March 2022 in Toulouse in order to reduce air pollution, mobility low emission zone (ZFE-m) will be equipped with automated checks. Initially planned for 2023, the government announced on Tuesday October 25, 2022 that the measure would be postponed for a year.
In Toulouse, ” 430,000 people will eventually breathe better quality air. 8,000 people live permanently with pollution thresholds above the norm. They will see the air quality improve,” recalled in February 2022, about the benefits caused by the ZFE in terms of public health, Francois Chollet, vice-president of Toulouse Métropole in charge of ecology. It is therefore to ensure the effectiveness of EPZs that the government intends to put in place automated checks and sanctions.
Still unknown to the general public, the ZFE could therefore become a much more explosive subject in the coming months when the sanctions become reality.
Controls “from the second half of 2024”
Because to carry out these checks, the government intends to establish a system of “control-sanctions” via radars equipped with cameras allowing the automated reading of plates.
“It will be effective from the second half of 2024”a indicated Christophe Bechu, the Minister for Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion, following the first ministerial committee on ZFE-m, which brought together representatives of the territories and the government. By 2025, all agglomerations with more than 150,000 inhabitants will have to have set up these zones which should gradually prohibit the most polluting vehicles, he also specified.
If for the moment the risk of sanction is almost nil, from mid-2024, it will be better to be in order at the time of circular inside the ZFE, because these checks will therefore be carried out by automated reading of the plates. In Toulouse, “Sixty fixed cameras will be deployed to carry out these checks”recently reminded François Chollet.
A fine between 68 euros and 135 euros
What do offenders expect? Tuesday, Christophe Béchu had initially announced that these fines would be “theoretically class 4”, i.e. 750 euros maximum. An amount that had enough to give cold sweats to more than one motorist!
But meanwhile, the information has been corrected by the Ministry of Ecological Transition. In the event of non-compliance with the ZFE, motorists will therefore be exposed to a fixed class 3 finethat is 68 euros for light vehicles and light commercial vehicles, and 135 euros for heavyweights.
Who will be affected?
Remember that the establishment of the ZFE-m is gradual. As a reminder, its perimeter includes all of Toulouse within the ring road, plus a small part of Colomiers and Tournefeuille, i.e. a perimeter of 72 km².
Can no longer circulate in the ZFE:
- since 1uh March 2022 : vans, vans and heavy goods vehicles Crit’air 5 sticker and unclassified
- since 1uh September 2022 : the same utility vehicles and trucks certified Crit’air 4
Could no longer circulate in the ZFE:
- from 1uh January 2023 : all motorized vehicles certified Crit’air 4, 5 and unclassified
- from 1uh January 2024 : all motorized vehicles up to Crit’air 3. On this date, only vehicles certified Crit’air 2, 1 and electric or hydrogen vehicles will be authorized to circulate within the zone.
According to Toulouse Métropole estimates, 47,000 vehicles could therefore be banned from circulation from 1uh January 2024.
Assistance with changing vehicles
This Tuesday, Christophe Béchu also recalled the nudges put in place by the government to support households who have to change vehicles due to the implementation of these ZFE-m.
the ecological bonus is increased from 6,000 to 7,000 euros “for the most modest households”. The conversion bonus, which can expect 5,000 euros for the purchase of a new or used electric or hybrid vehicle. Two aids that can be combined. New also announced: the introduction of a surcharge up to 1,000 euros for all inhabitants of the ZFE as well as for people working in these areas.
The risk of “a yellow vests bis phenomenon”
But will these devices be sufficient for the measure to be socially acceptable? “We all remember how the yellow vests crisis was triggered in November 2018″, recalled in September the mayor (LR) of Toulouse, Jean-Luc Moudenc at the time of the presentation of the chosen perimeter.
An alert reiterated again this Tuesday, with our colleagues from World. There is “a risk”, warned Jean-Luc Moudenc, also first vice-president of France Urbaine (structure which brings together French metropolises): “ That of a phenomenon “yellow vests” bisof a new confrontation between a social logic and an ecological logic”.
“Nik the ZFE”
Elected officials are not the only ones to worry given that many user associations or organizations have expressed their concerns in recent months. Remember that in Toulouse, despite the aid and deviants that exist, anti-EPZ demonstrations have already been organized in recent months by associations of motorists.
At the beginning of October 2022, the movement “anti-ZFE” passed a stage when three vehicles of the City of Toulouse were set on fire in the Côte Pavée district. A tag with flowery language had been discovered on the spot by the police services: “Nik the ZFE”. Proof, if one were needed, that the application of the ZFE makes some teeth cringe…
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