Motorway rescue calls privatised
Tolls could rise as discussion pave the way for private operators to replace gendarmes for autoroute distress calls.
Private companies are to take over the task of handling motorway distress calls from the gendarmes.
Discussions over finance and contracts between different operators are still taking place.
Each year around 320,000 distress calls are made from the 8,426 emergency boxes situated at the side of motorways across France.
The vast majority of calls involve breakdowns, with only around 20,000 needing the involvement of the emergency services.
Many of France’s motorways are managed by private companies who negotiate their péage tariffs with the state.
Tolls are likely to rise as a result of the switch, but the government claims it is trying to limit some rises as motorists have already been hit by high fuel costs.
Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône (APRR) technical director said taking on emergency calls would cost the company an extra €5million per year and employing 50 staff.
The Ministry of Ecologie which is leading the discussions said that smaller motorway operators had already taken on emergency calls without any extra funds from the state.
A spokesman added that taking on the callouts was “a normal evolution in managing the motorways”.
The gendarmes support the move. Lieutenant-colonel Yann Tréhin of the bureau de la sécurité routière à la Direction générale de la gendarmerie nationale (DGGN) said: “It’s better that the gendarmes are out in the field rather than sitting behind a telephone.”
The 320 gendarmes currently involved in dealing with emergency calls will be redeployed into 160 motorway patrol cars.
