Lyon. Radars to control the ZFE requested, a deployment date is confirmed

The Low Emission Zone (ZFE) was extended in 2025 to Crit'Air 3 vehicles in the metropolis of Lyon and continues to crystallize criticism and anger. The environmentalist president of the Metropolis of Lyon, Bruno Bernard, continues to call for license plate reader radars which must control vehicles entering the ZFE.

A request that the elected official reiterated on Friday January 17, 2025 during his greetings to the press where he attacked the State on its lack of commitment on this sensitive subject, according to him. “The State does not assume control of the ZFE,” he lamented.

Asked by news Lyon on the criticisms addressed by motorists, mayors of the metropolis and political parties, Bruno Bernard said he understood that for certain municipalities the priority of controls is not given.

“The State does not assume control” of the ZFE

The (socialist) mayor of Villeurbanne Cédric Van Styvendael, a commune in the ZFE, said in December that his municipal police would not prioritize vehicle traffic. LR mayors, France insoumise or the RN are demanding an end to controls.

“That the municipal police of the communes and the national police do not have the priority of fining, it is a reality which has been there for three years now”, conceded Bruno Bernard who deplores that the radars promised by the State are not not yet in service.

He regrets that their deployment “is postponed every two years” and is now promised in 2026.

The arrival of radars announced for 2026

Questioned a few hours later, Friday, the prefect of Rhône tried to defend the action of the State in the ZFE file.

“It’s true that from the start Bruno Bernard has been asking for these radars (…) For the moment the deployment of these radars is national, we don’t have them. The state has repeatedly rejected them. For now, it is 2026 although I say it with caution, because this has been postponed several times. He is right to be impatient,” Fabienne Buccio assured the press.

“In several European countries, these radars have sometimes been removed because they did not work satisfactorily,” continued the prefect. However, it’s not because we don’t have these radars that we don’t do anything, that’s not true.”

“We carry out checks but we also count on people’s citizenship”

“We carry out checks but we also rely on people’s citizenship,” assures the prefect. That Bruno Bernard “wants more aid at the national level, it’s his right, he’s right, he’s a politician”.

The president of the Metropolis has in fact denounced “the elimination of aid for the purchase of a less polluting vehicle” decided by the government.

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