Ahh Paris, a city so pretty and with such a unique atmosphere that it seems like a real life version of Disneyland. In order to keep the city so homogenized, many laws are in place to govern everything from the architectural style that can be used to the amount of music made by French artists that must be played on the radio. This level of regulation means that it shouldn't surprise anyone to learn that Paris also has many strict regulations about the kinds of cars can drive within the city.

One recent law prohibits all non-electric cars from driving in the city center on the first Sunday of each month in attempts to cut down on smog and another dictates that by 2020, only diesels made after 2011 will be allowsed around town (Volkswagens are likely to be banned too). Now, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has just signed another law into effect that would ban all cars built before 1997 and all motorcycles made prior to 1999 from entering the city center. Cars built prior to these years are the ones that pollute more since they lack modern emissions equipment. So much for attempting to drive a NASCAR through Parisian streets. The law will take effect on July 1 and will contain a plan to classify all cars into six categories based on their pollution levels.

Cars would receive a sticker with one of six colors, making it easy to implement other sorts of bans on mid to high-level polluting cars to mitigate smoggy days. By using six separate classifications, restrictions could be introduced gradually. This was done because a previous proposal would have used only four separate classifications, which would render a third of all cars in Paris as useless for inner city driving. Starting on October 1, the law will be enforced with fines starting at €35 ($39) for the first phase and rising to €68 ($76) for passenger cars and €135 ($150) for trucks starting in 2017. The new law affects about 10% of cars in Paris and will probably affect the poor the most. Source article by Le Monde.