Before banning SUVs, we need to know what they are!

Paris Senator Ian Brossat wants to propose a law to restrict the use of SUVs in Paris and major cities. Who is affected?

More dangerous, more expensive, more polluting, SUVs are definitely the nightmare for Parisian officials. After drastically increasing their parking fees, the plan now is to ban their access to large French cities. Just a quick note to highlight the lost revenue for Paris from parking fees… we’re not close to having a clean city and accessible public transport for people with reduced mobility, but let’s move on.

To ban something, first you need to define eligibility or exclusion criteria. When referring to the most common definitions of SUVs, here’s what we find. SUV is the abbreviation of the English term Sport Utility Vehicle, which literally means utility and sporty vehicle. We are not much further ahead. It refers to a vehicle positioned between off-road vehicles and city cars. So a raised sedan or a smaller-sized 4×4, not necessarily with all-wheel drive. That’s a bit more precise, but not enough to make it law. Let’s review Senator Ian Brossat’s criteria. For him, an SUV is a thermal or hybrid vehicle weighing more than 1.8 tons, or an electric vehicle over 2 tons. Now that’s precise. And from what dimensions do we shift from a heavy sedan to an SUV? No info provided… But is an SUV supposed to be powerful because it’s sporty? Still no info.

In fact, nothing has changed since the pathetic anti-SUV vote by Paris officials. An SUV is a vehicle that’s too heavy, therefore necessarily very tall and very dangerous. A bit cliché, isn’t it?

Let’s take, for example, a Volvo XC90 that exceeds 2 tons but can carry 7 people, many bags, and has particularly low fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. In terms of active and passive safety, it’s a benchmark, so in no way a more dangerous or polluting vehicle than a Critair 1 compact. However, at 5 meters long, it’s a nightmare to drive in Paris, but at least its owner shouldn’t worry too much as long as pedestrians and cyclists are not more at risk than with a regular car thanks to blind spot monitors and 360° cameras.

Wouldn’t it be smarter to focus on the dimensions and power of cars? What’s the point of a 5-meter Bentley Continental GT with only 4 seats or a 500-horsepower Mercedes G-Class in Paris? These are not SUVs but rather a sporty coupe and a 4×4. Conversely, a 4.57-meter Dacia Bigster weighs “only” 1590 kg and has no real concerns about restrictions.

So let’s stop talking about SUVs in every context, even ban the term from our vocabulary, and try to define what is acceptable or not. But you know what politics think of common sense…

READ ALSO: Here is the first “Le Bulletin du périphérique” from the Paris City Hall