This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) study that found SUVs to be 20 percent more polluting and twice as likely to kill a pedestrian in a collision compared to smaller conventional cars.
Twice as likely to kill a pedestrian...if that number holds up this needs to happen in more cities. Driving an excessively deadly vehicle through crowded areas shouldn't be free.
I don't think some millionaire earned a 2x chance to kill a pedestrian by being able to pay. I'm not a fan of fees that only apply rules to poor people.
But outright bans are harder to get passed, so fees are better than nothing.
I fucking hate SUV's, and I drive one (company car, had no say in the matter). Tax them all to hell and back.
It's not free, at least not in Portugal. You pay an yearly tax per vehicle, the value depends on the vehicle model.
I think restrictions like these should also include SUV EVs. Safety is the bigger priority than incentivizing a few more EV sales and in the future, there may only be EVs anyway.
Honestly, they should just ban all SUVs from entering altogether.
Not because of the environment or safety, just because I hate that everything is an SUV these days and they are boring af
It's the carcinization of vehicles, they've all become the same thing.
Looks at Rivian, Hummer EV, and Cybertruck having crab walk features… yeah
Omg it happened again!
That would mean lots of people would have to buy a new car, which is much worse for the environment than to keep driving an SUV
Or people could just take the train or walk.
Remember, we're talking about Paris, not a third world country in North America.
They can, but will they?
You said “have to”. They don’t have to. You’re now talking about whether they “want to” - which is now a question of whether they want to keep money in their wallet.
Don't be pedantic. I meant that they have to buy a new car if they want to keep driving, which most of them probably will, since they wouldn't be driving in the first place if there was a better alternative
I said "want to", and I meant "want to". I don't consider it pedantry - Everyone has a choice.
There's perhaps a fringe case of people that can afford two cars, own one SUV, and still insist on driving into the city - whether that means stomaching the fee, or buying a second car. That is very much a "want", one that increasingly dense cities cannot easily cater to. I'd even say there's not a huge demographic of people who could decide to buy a second car purely for this situation.
It includes electric vehicles over two tonnes, and hybrids/gas over 1.6 tonnes
Oversized vehicles are just as destructive to the environment, regardless of whether they are EV or not. In order to move that much mass, they require exponentially more electricity, which results in increased battery size and therefore more mass.
This isn’t a flaw EVs per se, it is a flaw of obnoxiously obese vehicles.
Well they also exempt taxis and city residents so it’s not about safety or the environment it’s about the money.
All SUV should be banned, but at least city residents pay taxes to the city. Sub urbanites think that they own the city and try to force it's habitats to accept an insecure, congested, and contaminated city because is comfortable for them. If you don't want to live in the city, it's OK, but don't pretend the city have to back forward for you (not talking about you personally, talking about people who lives in suburbs).
Not being snarky: if it were about the money, would city residents NOT be exempt?
No good point, I appreciate discussions!
I think they know if it didn’t exempt city residents there would be enough backlash from eligible voters it wouldn’t pass. Seeing as it’s a fine and not a ban it can have secondary effects of improving safety and the environment but primarily it will raise money.
I'd love it if there were a wide range of offerings for EVs that aren't crossovers/SUVs. Once you take them off the list, it's slim pickings. Doubly so if you want range over 200mi, and doubly so again if you refuse to buy a Tesla.
"You can try the Mustang Mach-E, that doesn't have much SUV in it."
Glad to see an european country taking steps to counteract the trend of larger cars.
good. suvs are terrible in so many ways just for vanity
Only non-Parisians? :(
The article is wrong. Paris is divided in 20 districts (arrondissements), and the new fee applies to cars parked outside of their home district, as well as non-Parisians.
That is... Better than expected
Well, it would not be fun if people suddenly voted against themselves just to do the right thing for everyone.
I hope that this becomes practice throuout Europe and the UK. UK ministers however will say almost anything for short term gain.
For people not living in Europe to give some context this is what a French SUV looks like compared to a F150.
'Paris votes' but 5.6% of parisians made the effort. Laughable
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Parisians have voted to triple parking charges for out-of-town SUV drivers as part of the city’s efforts to address road safety, air pollution, and climate change.
“Paris is transforming itself to allow people to breathe better and live better.” In a video published to Facebook on November 14th, Hidalgo promoted the referendum by referencing a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) study that found SUVs to be 20 percent more polluting and twice as likely to kill a pedestrian in a collision compared to smaller conventional cars.
The vote was closely monitored by other capital cities like London, which face similar challenges in tackling the various safety and pollution issues caused by the growing global popularity of SUV-type vehicles.
The increase in SUV parking rates is the latest measure Hidalgo has pursued to make Paris more friendly to the environment, pedestrians, and cyclists.
Paris officials have improved cycling infrastructure and announced plans to set up a traffic-reducing “tranquil zone” to reduce the flow of vehicles into the city center, for example, and successfully banned rental electric scooters last year following a rise in injuries and fatalities among users.
Hidalgo said last week that the removal of rental scooters had introduced a “feeling of liberation and calm,” which Paris aims to build upon further by reducing the number of SUVs in the city center.
The original article contains 448 words, the summary contains 223 words. Saved 50%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
