On January 1, a new restriction on road traffic will come into force throughout the capital's urban area, including outside the M-30. This is the Madrid Low Emission Zone (ZBE), which prohibits the access and movement of the most polluting passenger cars that are not registered in Madrid before January 1, 2022 or that do not pay tax on locomotives. Mechanics (IVTM). This measure only affects cars in environmental class A – diesel with registration before 2006 or petrol with registration before 2000 in the categories according to usage criteria (unspecified), 02 (family) and 33 (off-road vehicle) – which will already be the case in 2023 will be drive on M-30 or enter the central almond. However, commercial vehicles or motorcycles without a label are not affected.
The City Council of Madrid introduced the low emission zone in January 2022 as part of the “Madrid 360” sustainability strategy to reduce nitrogen oxides in the city. The Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility Department emphasizes that with this measure the city managed to comply with the European Air Quality Directive for the first time in 2022, a success that will hopefully be achieved again in 2023. with lower nitrogen dioxide records than last year. “Madrid is finally breathing,” said José Luis Martínez Almeida triumphantly, to which Ecologistas en Acción replied that the deviation was “barely a microgram.” It’s a huge leap from there to saying the problem is solved.”
After the entry into force of the Madrid ZBE and in accordance with the provisions of Article 242 of the Sustainable Mobility Regulation (WHO), a notice period of six months will be established, extended until June 30th. The aim of this phase is to warn citizens who are prohibited from entering and moving around to stop doing so and thus avoid penalties for traveling outside the M-30. Be careful, because the cancellation period for the cameras that monitor the M-30 and its interior ends on January 14th. Therefore, any vehicle they hunt will be subject to sanctions starting January 15th.
Control is carried out using 257 cameras already installed inside the M-30 and on the road itself. In a few days, another 207 cameras will be added to monitor the outside of the M-30. The purchase and installation of the cameras and the other system elements were financed by the European Union through Next Generation EU funds. A grant of €5.7 million was granted from the Recovery and Resilience Plan to support municipalities in setting up environmental zones. A total of 464 surveillance devices will ensure compliance with the Madrid ZBE, to this number are added the 37 fotorrojo – traffic light cameras – distributed throughout the city.
All owners of passenger vehicles who violate the regulations outside the M-30 and are caught by the cameras during the warning period – from Monday, January 1, 2024, midnight to June 30, 2024, 11:59 p.m. – will receive an informative communication . However, the perpetrator may be punished if arrested by a law enforcement officer.
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Access to Madrid ZBE, as well as to the low-emission zones of the Central District Special Protection Area and Plaza Elíptica, was not permitted until March 20, 2022. This was a minor traffic violation until March 20, 2022 and could be punished with a fine of 90 euros (I will pay 45 euros per person soon). After the central government amended this law, it has been punished as a serious traffic violation since March 21, 2022 and is punishable by a fine of 200 euros (100 euros if paid on time).
With the introduction of the Madrid ZBE, the traffic of vehicles without eco-labelling (A) within the M-30 has decreased and now represents 2.3% of the total traffic within the city (an average of 73,826 of the 3,246,971 transits recorded daily). There are about 2,000 that can be sanctioned vehicles per day, as on average the same vehicle is captured by about three cameras.
The Madrid City Council expects that with the new Madrid ZBE restriction, the number of vehicles additionally sanctioned per day during the notice period will increase to 2,700. However, as with the other ZBEs, it is expected that there will be a 50% behavioral correction during the six months in the warning phase.
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