Night time motorcycle riding ban in Paris
A ban on riding motorcycles or scooters at night is a possibility in Paris
Lucy England
How would you feel about a ban on riding your scooter or motorcycle in the city at night? Well that is something which is being seriously considered as a possibility in Paris inside the city limits.
It would only affect internal combustion engined machines, as the idea is to reduce noise, so electric machines of any kind would still be ok as they are silent.
The problem seems to be that noise made by motorcycles and scooters at night is disturbing the sleeping citizens of Paris.
Apparently an unverified 80% of Parisians complain about the noise of combustion engined bikes zooming around at night, when they are trying to sleep, and say it's keeping them awake.
The proposal is that motorbikes would be banned from moving around the city between 10pm and 7am every night, in theory cutting noise and air pollution. The penalty for breaking this law in the first instance would be a fine of 135 euros.
This is still currently very much just a proposal and has not been implemented, but if it were to be, then it would be on a trial basis lasting a year to see if it is practicable. After that, if the powers that be think is has been a success, it would become a permanent fixture.
It would go alongside more sound radar around the city, used in order to enforce the ban effectively. There is possible financial assistance on offer, to try and soften the blow and tempt motorcycle and scooter riders to try electric motorcycles or bicycles instead. Although it’s not quite clear what this will be.
Exceptions will be made for people who have to travel to and from work either late or early due to the nature of their work.
This system is already in place in Madrid in Spain so there is a European precedent for it.
Motorbike groups are already up in arms with Jean-Marc Belotti, of the Fédération française des motards en colère (FFMC) for Paris saying:
“We make noise like other road users but I can tell you that most of the noise [on the roads] is generated by heavy vehicles passing over cobbles, and by horns and sirens.”
Paris is also proposing to bring in higher parking fees for large SUVs and 4x4’s which are more polluting and take up more space.
Motorcycle parking is of course no longer free and all parking charges in Paris have gone up, although motorcycles are smaller and take up less space than most other vehicles, so it doesn’t seem altogether logical that they are also being charged more.
How do you feel about a city night time riding ban for motorcycles and scooters? Are you disturbed at night by engine noise and if so which vehicles are the culprits?
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