Anne Hidalgo declares war on SUVs

The topic of the second citizens’ vote organized by Anne Hidalgo and the Paris City Hall is known. More or less SUVs?

As soon as she returned from Polynesia, Anne Hidalgo quickly took up her favorite cause again: Down with nasty cars! After this little wink, let’s try not to fall into easy irony and bad faith. You can’t fight autocophobia with the same weapons as autophobes.

During the first vote, Parisians chose to ban scooter-sharing. A few months later, the sidewalks are cleared, accidents are down, and in the end, the absence of small vehicles doesn’t seem to have disrupted the lives of Île-de-France residents that much. Vox populi, vox dei, and when the result is positive, all the better! So let’s give this new vote a chance.

In her message, Anne Hidalgo expresses the exasperation of Parisians at these “Polluting big cars that take up more and more space in our streets, on our sidewalks, or even on bike lanes.” It is therefore necessary to curb this phenomenon by limiting the space of SUVs and 4x4s in urban areas.

The solution? An increase in non-residential parking fees for these cars. Who is to blame? The nasty manufacturers who push us to buy ever larger and more resource-intensive vehicles, and thus more polluting. And yes, according to the mayor, SUVs are 20% more polluting than regular cars. WWF says so, so it must be true… No irony, just facts.

Otherwise, these large vehicles are, according to Ms. Hidalgo, twice as dangerous for our seniors, children, and people with reduced mobility. Madam Hidalgo, before worrying about the danger of SUVs, these vehicles would like to be able to access the metro and public infrastructure.

Is a big car necessarily more dangerous and more polluting than a small one? Regardless of the age and technology of the vehicle and who is driving it? Let’s stop analyzing this statement; we leave it to you below so you can form your own opinion.

We just want to know: what is an SUV? What size, weight, driving assistance systems like anti-collision devices? What type of engine: diesel, petrol, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, electric… Manufacturers are making tremendous efforts to make roads safer and vehicles less polluting. We, drivers, are also making many efforts to change our travel habits. So should we be supported in positively evolving or should we fall into the caricature of stigmatizing a word, SUV, which no longer means anything today? Honestly, Parisians deserve better than this…