2023-08-18 13:00:00
SMART GRID – In London, the cameras and bollards installed in the city center with the aim of reducing motorized traffic and pollution are not unanimous. Set up during the Covid health crisis by the Boris Johnson government in “low traffic” residential areas (Low Traffic Neighbourhood) or in “very low emission zones” of CO2 (Ultra Low Emission Zone), this equipment is regularly the subject of acts of vandalism. Since their actual installation in 2020, the damage amounts to 850,000 pounds (about 1 million euros). Enough to force the local authorities to cover them with metal cabinets.
THE “very low emission zones” (Ultra Low Emission Zone or ULEZ) were introduced in 2019 by Mayor Sadiq Khan and gradually cover most of the center of the British capital as they expand. To enter, vehicles whose emissions exceed established CO2 standards must pay a fee. As part of the old pollution control system for old vehicles, this tax was named until 2017 T-charge for Toxic charge.
Another device in the United Kingdom aims to reduce motorized traffic in residential areas, using barriers, bollards or cameras: LTN zones (Low Traffic Neighbourhood). Implemented in 2020 (some variants of this idea have however existed in the country since the 1970s, editor’s note), these aim to encourage pedestrian or bicycle traffic and, consequently, to deter the acquisition and use vehicles by residents.
850,000 repair pounds
The terminals and the cameras of the ULEZ thus identify the license plates of the cars which access these zones or districts. A fine of 12.50 pounds is applied for each offence. A citizen who owns a vehicle that does not comply with the “Toxicity Charge”, which is probably old, can suffer this penalty several times a day.
People hostile to this type of device first tried to cover the lenses of the cameras so as not to be detected. An ineffective method since the employees of the town hall were responsible for removing the paint, the adhesive or an object, bag or carton in order to obstruct the video. These attempts were quickly followed by acts of vandalism such as the destruction of cameras, the cutting of cables or the theft of equipment. Monitoring systems put in place to check whether traffic is decreasing or whether pedestrian or bicycle traffic is increasing are similarly targeted.
In early May, London police announced 96 cases of vandalism against ULEZ cameras, up from 31 at the end of March. And the number of incidents increases according to the Telegraph with 11 cases of camera theft and 17 acts of vandalism recorded over the short period of the last 10 days of July. Some of these acts are attributed by the police to a civil disobedience movement called “Blade Runners”, which has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks. These are sometimes filmed et shared on social networks by people with covered faces.
The bill is salty. According to the information to which The Guardian said to have had access, the damage amounts to 850,000 pounds since 2020. The Council (administrative division of Greater London, editor’s note) Hackney is the most affected with nearly 400,000 pounds of repairs. That of Lambeth, which must pay 310,000 pounds to repair the cameras in its LTN and ULEZ districts.
London screens the cameras
In addition to repairing these devices, London has taken steps to prevent acts of vandalism. Mobile cameras for the ULEZs have been considered but the Telegraph announced on Tuesday August 15, 2023 that the choice was made to protect the cameras and terminals in black metal shielded boxes in order to deter attacks.
About 1,900 cameras have so far been installed in the LTN and ULEZ districts. Their number is expected to reach 2,750 with their expansion, scheduled for August 29, across Greater London. The project, announced by Boris Johnson when he was mayor of London, was taken over by his successor, Labor Sadiq Khan.
The expansion of the ULEZ is the subject of a political standoff between the Labors (workers) and the Tories (conservatives). Last Monday, Mr Khan pledged to continue this equipment plan but five Councils refuse to authorize the public body Transport For London (TFL), responsible for installing these cameras, to continue the expansion.
THE London Councils supported by Tory MPs do not want their residents to be fined and urge the mayor of London “grant an exemption for essential workers and improve inter-county bus routes.”
“By denying TFL permission to install ULEZ warning signs, these Councils are failing to fulfill their responsibility (…) The Mayor urges these three Councils to put their politics aside and do what is right. better for their residents and their drivers”, a declared Sadiq Khan’s spokesman. The High Court of Justice, however, dismissed the appeals of these councils, allowing the Mayor of London to confirm the expansion of these neighborhoods “under control”.
These areas are also at the heart of the debates among the inhabitants. Opponents of these measures, generally low-income citizens, refuse to be forced to abandon their vehicles to go to work, at the risk of being sentenced to fines of up to more than 4,500 pounds a year.
The UK is not the only European country to adopt this system. In France, there are four “low emission zones” (ZFE): in Greater Paris, Lyon, Grenoble and Strasbourg. Compliant vehicles are classified by six categories of the Crit’air sticker, ranging from zero engine emissions to high-emitting vehicles. Category 4 and 5 vehicles are thus prohibited from entering.
More than 300 EPZs have been set up in Europe, spread over more than ten countries such as Germany, Belgium or the Netherlands, with different regulations. In France as elsewheremotorists are hostile to these measures.
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