You may come across this sign for the first time this winter. Do you know it ? And do you know what you risk if you don’t respect it?
This winter, many motorists may discover new types of signs for the first time. Either they are present on the bottom side and display a white triangle on a blue background. Either they take the form of luminous white diamonds on a black background above certain lanes. What are they and what are the risks if we don’t know them?
These signs have meaning. The Citizens’ Climate Convention proposed, in June 2020, to “generalize the development of lanes reserved for shared vehicles and public transport on motorways and expressways serving a low-emission mobility zone”.
In France, lanes reserved for carpooling and certain categories of vehicles (Crit’Air zero-emission sticker) have therefore been put into service since 2020, on several routes very often used by motorists. First in September 2020 in Grenoble on the A48 motorway, then in December 2020 in Lyon on the A6 and A7 motorways.
The sign therefore indicates a carpool lane which can only be used by the following vehicles:
- vehicles with at least two occupants on board (a couple, a parent and a child, two employees, two carpoolers, etc.)
- very low-emission vehicles which hold a zero-emission Crit’Air sticker, that is to say 100% electric and hydrogen vehicles, regardless of the number of people on board. Plug-in hybrid vehicles (petrol, diesel, etc.) are not authorized on the track with a person on board.
- taxis, even empty ones.
- Motorcycles are allowed to use the reserved lane if two people are on the vehicle.
Motorists who do not respect the regulations relating to the use of the carpool lane are subject to a fine of €135. Radars can monitor the correct use of the carpool lane. They have the ability to check the number of occupants in the vehicle traveling in the carpool lane, whether they are in the front or the rear. And this, whatever the weather conditions, day or night. They also make it possible to differentiate between real people and dummies to avoid “false positives”.
Finally, you should know that these lanes are not always permanent, they can be open during traffic jams or at certain times. If this is the case, the sign, which must be installed upstream of the reserved lane and at the end, mentions the time slot concerned by carpooling.