Old Bangers Banned in Paris

In an attempt to curb excessive traffic noise and reduce air pollution layers, Mayor Bertrand Delanoe has pushed forward a ban for 17 year old cars or 18 year old buses and trucks in Paris. Proponents suggest that the ordinance will aide in Paris reaching its Low Emission Zone mark, while opponents claim the bill will favor the rich and drive the less well off from the city.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe wants to outlaw from the French capital the use of cars more than 17 years old, trucks and buses more than 18 years old, and motorcycles built before 2004, considered by the mayor to be the "most polluting and nosiest." The "old banger" ban will apply to these vehicles inside the A86 ring-road motorway that encircles Paris. If the city council rubber-stamps the proposal, Parisians will no longer be able to cruise around the capital in classics cars such as the Citroen 2CV, Renault 4L and Peugeot 205.