the last argument of drivers

When vaguely listening to the national public radio France Inter last night, while cooking dinner, I heard Patrick Septiers, president of le conseil départemental de Seine et Marne, express his (electorate catering) opposition to the new 80km/h speed limit on national and departmental roads on the most rational (!) argument that delivery trucks drove at that speed already and hence that the speed limit would “force” car drivers to break the law to pass trucks. Along with similarly rational claims to have each department regulate its speed limits on the basis it was financing most roads. (I had another illustration of the rationality above when walking by a big SUV this morning, with a large sticker against wind farms.)

the adoration of the golden car

As the demonstrations by the “gilets jaunes” become a fixture of French Saturdays, the French government is gradually giving up on the reforms it had started and is in particular catering to the car [and motorbike] lobby that started the protests. The symbol itself comes from the yellow fluorescent jackets found in every car and the first round of demonstrations was about the rise of the gas taxes towards more sustainable transportation. Things have since then metastasized into a winner-takes-it-all litany of complaints, but with gas engine drivers remaining at the forefront. When driving outside Paris during the Xmas break, every speed radar I X’ed had been neutralised or destroyed, leading to a significant increase in speeding and thus eventually in road kills. Following the abandonment of the gas tax a few weeks ago, the most recent abdications of the government on that aspect are returning to the speed limit of 90km/h on secondary roads, from the year-old decrease to 80km/h, tax rebates for changing cars, financial advantages for frequent highway users and more generally heavy drivers. Ride faster, comrade, until you hit the next right curve!

drivers are not interested in maths formulas

An appalling discussion on the French public radio (France Inter) this morning about reducing the average speed on bidirectional roads from 90 km/h to 80 km/h, when the representative of “40 millions d’automobilistes”, a driver lobby with a few hundred thousands members, called the chain to protest against this potential move by the Macron government. With arguments ranging from being unjust for the rural parts of the country [the reduction in speed adds seven minutes per hour!], to predicting the regulation to be ignored by most drivers, to a lack of democracy [as if driving a car was a fundamental right! What’s next?! The right to bear arms?!], and finally to denying arguments based on econometric models [dismissed as “maths formulas”], like Nilsson’s.