BIKE: Paris bans SUV's

[Patrick Goetz]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=757&e=1&u=/nm/20040609/od_nm/life_france_suvs_dc

Paris Goes After SUVs
Wed Jun 9, 9:22 AM ET

PARIS (Reuters) - Bulky four-by-fours could be banned from clogging up 
the chic streets of Paris after a top official in the capital's 
left-wing government described them as a polluting "caricature of a car" 
unsuited to city life.

An anti-sports utility vehicle (SUV) resolution passed by the city 
council could lead to a ban on the popular vehicles in about 18 months 
if it is included in an overall project to improve traffic flow in the 
city, Deputy Mayor Denis Baupin said Wednesday.

"You have to wonder why people want to drive around in SUVs," Baupin, a 
Greens party member, said on Europe 1 radio.

"We have no interest in having SUVs in the city. They're dangerous to 
others and take up too much space."

The city council voted Tuesday to urge Socialist Mayor Bertrand Delanoe 
to consider banning SUVs, which have become popular in recent years and 
now make up about five percent of the French car market -- just below 
the western Europe average.

Baupin said Paris, which has been setting aside more lanes for buses and 
bicycles since a Socialist and Greens coalition took over City Hall in 
2001, could not legally ban SUVs outright.

"Our idea is to limit the circulation of the most polluting vehicles," 
he said. "That means SUVs and lots of other vehicles that don't meet 
European pollution standards."

Baupin, who often cycles around Paris to promote more environmentally 
friendly transport, called SUVs a caricature of a car and said they were 
not adapted for use in a city.

"It's made for a family on vacation ... and usually they only have one 
person in them," he said.

"Let's be logical and only allow into the city cars that are adapted to 
it."