The French government has stopped its plan to ban half of the cars in Paris after one day, claiming the plan has been successful in reducing air pollution.
The ban included that only cars with odd-numbered license plates would be allowed on the rues et boulevards on Monday, according to NPR. The city streets would have only been open to cars with even-numbered license plates on Tuesday.
Philippe Martin, minister of ecology, thanked the public for cooperating with the ban, saying that 90 percent of Parisians complied with the rules. The ban was put into place after five straight days of smog covering the city, and is the first car ban to take place in Paris since 1997, the Guardian reported. Martin said there was no chaos during the ban, which was a fear after the last ban 17 years ago.
While police officers had issued close to 4,000 tickets and fined drivers 22 euros ($30) for driving with even-numbered license plates, some drivers were willing to accept the fine, NPR reported.
"I know it's not great to say but I'm willing to take my car and pay the fine to get my kids to school, because I don't have the choice," one woman said.
Martin said the government decided not to extend the car ban because of improving weather conditions, and that the pollution level would not go over the safety limit on Tuesday. However, experts said that it would take some time to measure the impact of the ban on the pollution levels, the Guardian reported.
To determine levels of pollution, authorities in Paris measure particulate concentration with a diameter of less than 10 microns, or PM10, in the air, AFP reported. PM10, created by vehicles, include particles that can penetrate into the lungs and blood system and can cause cancer. The safe limit for PM10 is set at 80 micrograms per cubic meter (mcg/m3). Paris hit a high of 180 mcg/m3 last week, but fell to 175 mcg/m3 on Monday.
