PARIS RETIRES ITS CLASSIC RIDES I

F, like Lucy Jordan, you dream of one day riding through Paris in a sports car with the warm wind in your hair, take note: you’d best plan to pass through over a weekend — or make sure it’s a modern car.

A new law, coming into effect at the end of the month, will see all cars older than 20 years banned from the city centre on week days. The law is aimed at curbing the city’s chronic smog and traffic problems.

Le Monde reports that the law affects all cars registered before 1997, as well as all motorcycles registered before 1999.

The measure is part of a wider, controversial project whose goal is to slash greenhouse-gas emissions in the French capital by 75% by 2050.

The anti-pollution measures relating to vehicles will become even stricter in the coming years. By 2020, it will extend to cars that were registered before 2010.

Large trucks and buses have already felt the effects, having been banned from the city as of July last year.

Those who break the rule will initially be fined €35 (about R600), though this will rise to €68 (R1 150) in early 2017.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has implemented several measures to reduce smog, including a recent move to ban cars from the Champs-Élysées on the first Sunday of every month.

She has also sought to create more pedestrian zones at major traffic circles and along the Seine River.

Last year, the city held its first-ever “No Car Day”. That will be expanded this year to cover more neighbourhoods.

Environmental groups have singled out older cars as heavy polluters. But the move has drawn criticism from motorist associations, such as 40 Millions d’Automobilistes, whose members insist it will disproportionately affect lowerincome drivers and have minimal impact on the environment.

Several protests have been planned for the coming weeks, and a lawsuit has been filed against the city by motorists who say the government should help them buy a post-1997 car.