Authorities have so far nabbed 173 people flouting a 6-week-old partial diesel ban in the northern port of Hamburg, police said Friday.
The city imposed the restrictions in May as part of an effort to improve air quality. Under the new rules, vehicles that do not meet the latest Euro-6 emissions standards are prohibited from two busy stretches of road in the central district of Altona-Nord.
Offending car drivers face a €20 ($27) fine, while lorries must cough up €75.
Police say they checked more than 600 cars and trucks in the designated areas during four operations between June 21 and 26. A spokesman added that further operations were planned.
Read more: When driving isn't fun anymore
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Battling air pollution through driving bans
Too much traffic makes for bad air
Cities all over the world are fighting against smog. A German court has ruled that cities are allowed to impose driving bans. Many German cities — including Stuttgart, shown here — have developed an air pollution problem and are debating how best to approach the problem.
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Battling air pollution through driving bans
Oslo, where the diesel ban is reality
A diesel ban is imposed in the Norwegian capital whenever air pollution levels rise above a prescribed limit. The ban went into effect for the first time on January 17, 2017. Ambulances and other public service vehicles running on diesel are exempt from the measure. The city plans to reduce even more cars by eliminating municipal parking spaces in the center starting in 2019.
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Battling air pollution through driving bans
Paris is also planning a diesel ban
Starting in 2024, the French capital will ban diesel vehicles; in 2030 it intends to expand the ban to gas-powered cars. Vehicles manufactured before 1997 are already prohibited in the city on weekdays. When air pollution levels exceed prescribed limits, Parisians have to follow a rotation system in which only cars with either even- or odd-numbered plates are allowed to be driven in the city.
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Battling air pollution through driving bans
London has a congestion charge
If you want to drive into the center of London, a day's ride through the city will cost you 10 pounds ($13.80, €11.20). London introduced the congestion charge in 2003. Automatic number plate recognition is used to enforce the measures. Anyone who does not pay the fee faces a heavy fine of up to 240 pounds.
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Battling air pollution through driving bans
Copenhagen – the most bike-friendly city in the world
Copenhagen's mayor, Frank Jensen, wants to prevent new diesel cars from entering the city starting in 2019. Currently, over 300 kilometers of roads in the Danish capital can only be used by cyclists. With the new regulations, cycling will become easier, more convenient and cheaper than driving a car. About half of Copenhageners now cycle to work.
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Battling air pollution through driving bans
Pedestrian zones spreading in Madrid
Car-free zones like the square in front of Madrid's Teatro Real are set to become a common sight in the city. Almost the entire center of the Spanish capital will be turned into pedestrian zones in the next five years. Madrid has high smog levels, due to being surrounded by mountains, which cause bad air to get trapped in the city.
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Battling air pollution through driving bans
Helsinki offers a traffic app
Riding public transport will become even easier in the near future in Helsinki. In the next ten years, a mobility on demand system will be developed to include all forms of public transport in one app, including buses, self-driving cars and minibuses with flexible routes. The goal of the app is to be so good that no one will want to own a car.
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Battling air pollution through driving bans
Driving electric rickshaws in Delhi
Smog chokes Delhi and levels of air pollution regularly go off the scale. Electric rickshaws will hopefully alleviate the problem. By 2030, all new vehicles will be electrically powered and the city will phase out gas powered vehicles.
Author: Stella Braun
Dirty air
Dozens of German cities, including Hamburg, Stuttgart and Munich, have long struggled with air pollution problems. In 2016, 90 German cities breached the European Union's limits on nitrogen oxide. Last year, 66 failed to meet the standards.
A major court decision in February cleared the way for German cities to ban heavily polluting diesel cars.
Hamburg was the first to act, but some critics have dismissed the new measures there as ineffective because they only apply to two streets.
Read more: Diesel car sales tanking in Germany
Stuttgart to enact ban
On Wednesday, the southwestern city of Stuttgart — home to car makers Audi, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz — announced plans to impose its own ban on diesel cars from January next year. Authorities say they want to keep parts of the city's downtown free of diesel vehicles that fall under the Euro-4 or older emissions standards.
Diesel-engine cars, once considered a more environmentally friendly option, have largely fallen from favor following revelations that the German car industry cheated on diesel emissions tests.
A number of major capitals around the world, including Paris, Madrid, Mexico City and Athens, plan to ban diesel cars from their city centers by 2025.
nm/rc (dpa Reuters)
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