Traffic rules will soon be changed on many major roads and it will be better to respect them to avoid receiving a large fine.
Millions of motorists will soon have to change their driving habits. A major event planned for this summer in France will indeed impose new regulations on the road. If you don’t know yet, the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, organized largely in and around Paris, have prompted the authorities to make traffic changes on many major roads. In addition to the closure of certain sectors in the capital since May (Place de la Concorde, Pont Alexandre-III, Avenue Galliéni), several sections of highways as well as the ring road and the circular boulevard at La Défense will be impacted by the global sporting event.
In all, no less than 185 kilometers of lanes around Paris will soon be reserved exclusively for vehicle traffic to transport athletes, official delegations and journalists as well as taxis, emergency vehicles, ambulances and public transport. On these major roads, the left lane will therefore be prohibited to all ordinary motorists. If you often travel on the A1, A4, A12 or A13 motorways, or on the Paris ring road, from Porte de Vanves to Porte de Bercy in both directions via the north, you have undoubtedly noticed new signs recently. road – using signs or road markings – to indicate that you are driving on future Olympic routes.
These signaling elements will be visible, if they are not already, from 1er July to September 15, 2024. To be understood by everyone, they include either the Olympic logo or the words “Paris 2024”. But it is only from July 15 that the ban on the general public using these routes will be effective. And if you think you can slip incognito into the left lane to save time, know that many radars have been installed to carry out checks. All registration plates of vehicles authorized to drive on the Olympic routes have been recorded in a file. If this is not the case, the risk of being caught by the patrol will be great if you try to circumvent the rule.
And the bill will be particularly steep. Any driver driving on an Olympic lane without permission will be fined 135 euros and liable to prosecution. For all those hoping for a return to normal for the start of the school year, they may well be disappointed at the end of the summer. Indeed, the Olympic lanes will give way to carpooling lanes once the Olympics are over. It will then be forbidden to drive in the left lane of many major roads while alone in your car. The new radars, capable of checking the number of passengers in each vehicle, will not let anything through.