© Unsplash/Aleksandr Popov
While the ecological emergency rages and car traffic gets deeper and deeper into traffic jams, more and more municipalities, like Lyon, are deploying lanes reserved for carpooling. These lanes, symbolized by a blue diamond, are reserved for cars carrying at least one passenger. Until then, Lyon was in an educational phase – the lanes were available but single motorists who used them did not risk any fine.
However, this will change by November. Four carpooling radars will be installed on the M6/M7 urban boulevard. Carpooling radars which rely on an infrared camera capable of detecting passengers using their body heat. There is, a priori, no simple way to fool the system: a mannequin, which does not emit heat, is not counted as a passenger.
Is carpooling up to the challenge?
Initially, two of these speed cameras will only flash without consequences, unlike the other two which will therefore soon be able to issue a fine of 135 euros . Our colleagues from Le Figaro went to ask Lyon motorists what their opinion is on these new radars. And the least we can say is thatto hear them, these coercive devices and so-called “carpooling” are useless.
Despite the educational phase, not all motorists seem to yet understand how this route works. A user cited by Le Figaro, Saad, explains, for example: I have the impression that it wastes more time than anything else because #8217;there are always traffic jams. I also have the feeling that everything is good for making money.
But what seems to come up most often are drivers who find that pushing for daily carpooling is somewhat“disconnected” from reality. A motorist particularly emphasizes that “it’s complicated to find people going to the same place”.
Despite everything, the Lyon municipality plans to install more of these carpooling radars in the near future. According to the daily, projects are being studied on the A43, the A6 to the north of Lyon as well as the A7 to the south.
It must be said that according to a study carried out on a sample of 1,556 people, 32% of Lyon motorists would actually say they are ready to switch to carpooling on their home-work journeys – provided you are a driver. Enough to justify dedicated lanes and speed cameras.
However, researchers also emphasize that for this type of measure to work, it is also necessary to make passenger carpooling more attractive, otherwise it will create friction preventing recourse to it. effective in this shared mode of travel, more respectful of the planet.
For the moment, relying on private cars to go to work and return is potentially a problem. ;expose to delays, and other constraints which push users to continue in “self-drive”, even if they have an ecological fiber…
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