during the Discussions about the petition Yes, up to 50 km/h in Lausanne. This Tuesday, January 31st at the Vaudois Grand Council, accepted by wire by the right-wing majority, what could have been a fact-based debate has become, for the bourgeois right, an ideological struggle, under-eyes and beard-scientific facts.
Let us put it as it is: the position of the majority of the Petitions Committee was based first and foremost on facts, rather than on ideological considerations. Night noise has a significant impact on health and sleep quality. A car traveling at 50 km/ha has the potential to wake up several thousand people in Lausanne. The population has also largely noticed the difference since the procedure was introduced. Across the canton, municipalities of various political colors have followed Lausanne’s lead, because the measure is tested and verified and meets all criteria, making it a relative and effective measure. In short, 30 km / h in the night works.
“What could have been a fact-based debate has become an ideological battle.”
How did the bourgeois parties turn the debate into an ideological struggle? Well, by stating a series of scientific lies. Although noise studies have been carried out, the results of which are indisputable, we have been able to hear some MPs explain that vehicles will necessarily be noisier at 30 km/h than at 50 km/h. Second, that merchants will suffer. However, try to find an open position at 3 am or 4 am: there is no trading.
More fluidity
And if we’re talking about a person going to work or going home, that person actually doesn’t see a slight difference in travel time, especially since the speed drop from 10pm to 6am includes amber traffic lights, thus improving traffic fluidity at night. Under certain conditions, it turns out that we even save time! There is less braking, less acceleration and, moreover, less risk of accidents. In short, we can prove with A + B that motorists do not suffer from this procedure.
This isn’t the first time the right has made small arrangements with science. Of course, this should not dictate all our political debates, because facts alone do not allow us to take measures in the difficult exercise of balancing interests. But there is a difference between giving science its rightful place in political debate and telling lies. Fighting noise is not an excuse to impose evasive measures on motorists; It is an essential public health issue, and the consequences of noise cost society more than 2.8 billion annually, according to figures from the Federal Office for the Environment, including 2.2 due to road traffic.
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– The correct and difficult relationship with science
For Romain Billaud, 30 km / h at night has proven itself and the argument of the oath does not hold.
Romain Bilaud