Cyril Dion, Yann Arthus-Bertrand… The call of personalities to drive at 110 km/h on the motorway

Driving at 110 km/h on the highway is good for your pocket and for the planet. A fairly logical reasoning since, indeed, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions increase exponentially with speed.

In a column published in the JDDnine personalities ask the French to practice this eco-driving gesture, “immediately beneficial for the climate AND for purchasing power”.

An initiative that “is based on volunteering”

“This initiative is not a request, it is voluntary and we are not asking the State to legislate,” it can be read, while the debate on a possible reduction in the speed limit resurfaced on the way back to school, in a context of high consumption of gas. prices and calls for energy sobriety.

This passage at 110 km / h on the highway was also part of the 149 proposals of the Citizen Convention for Climate, of which the filmmaker and environmental activist Cyril Dion was one of the “guarantors”. A measure discarded by Emmanuel Macron in 2020.

The main objective of this initiative called “The 110”, to reduce the carbon footprint while “our climatic and social house burns seriously, and us with it”, the signatories for whom “daily gestures and behavioral changes have a tremendous value.” “

“Our average carbon footprint is, in fact, about 10 tons of CO2 per person per year and must be reduced by around 80% in 2050, to reach the 2 tons of CO2 compatible with a temperature increase of less than 2 °C”, they remember.

First goal: at 110 until the end of the year

Main arguments: driving at 110 km/h instead of 130 km/h, “it is -20% of fuel consumption and -20% of our greenhouse gas emissions”, this allows us to “reduce traffic jams” and “not very restrictive” with “worst case” extended commutes “8 to 9 minutes per hour, which isn’t much compared to the hours we spend in front of our screens or the urgency to reduce our emissions.

“In many countries this is already the norm: 113 km/h in Great Britain, 110 km/h in Brazil and Sweden, 100 km/h during the day since March 2020 in the Netherlands…”, continues the collective.

First step: test this “voluntary limitation” until the end of the year:

“At the beginning of 2023, we will take stock and each one will be free to choose whether or not to continue with their commitment based on the results obtained together, on their experience.”

With other initiatives that may be announced soon:

“Then possibly the time will come for a second decision, then a third… There is no small decision if we are millions to make it,” the forum concludes.