Police to enforce road crossings

Police in Paris are warning drivers that they could face harsher punishment for disregarding the city’s pedestrian crossings.

The Prefecture of Police has instructed officers to carry out regular random spot checks on crossings across the capital. Drivers caught flouting the rules of the road by ignoring crossings – especially those without traffic lights – and slaloming between pedestrians will be ‘heavily fined’.

The caution comes as a report by the Police commission reveals that 1,009 pedestrians have been knocked down by cars in Paris alone since January 2011, with 27 people killed by hurried motorists.

"Drivers really need to adopt a new attitude", say the Prefecture. "When a person is at a pedestrian crossing, cars must always let them pass. It is not enough to simply slow down. They must stop." They also insist that pedestrians must pay more attention, following an incident on December 5 in which a lady was struck by one of the city’s new silent ‘Autolib’ self-service electric cars.

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