Parisian fumes eased by strict law

French authorities yesterday for the first time put a strict anti-pollution law into force in Paris, allowing only vehicles with odd number licence plates on to the streets.

Other steps included lower speed limits and free public transport. These measures reduced record levels of nitrogen dioxide produced by car exhaust to safe levels.

On Tuesday, the gases had reached level three on a three-point scale for the first time in two years. Pollution remained below level one yesterday, and Ms Dominique Voynet, the Minister of the Environment, said restrictions would be lifted at midnight.

Under a law passed by the last government in December 1996, but not previously enforced, cars with even-number licence plates can drive on even dates and those with odd numbers on odd dates during pollution alerts. Yesterday being October 1st only odd-numbered plates were allowed. Violators risked a 900-franc (£100) fine. Similar even-odd systems have been used in Rome and Athens for years, with little effect.

A thousand policemen manned 100 checkpoints around Paris. The rule was widely complied with, and this unusual show of French civic spirit was hailed by Le Monde as "an important date in the history of the behaviour and social psychology of the country". It marked a break with "a certain idea of modernity" surrounding the car. For the first time, Le Monde said, the car was no longer a sacred cow.

The successful implementation of the even-odd number scheme was a personal victory for Ms Voynet, who was the spokeswoman for the Green Party before joining the Jospin government last June. She was attacked by environmentalists in August, when she failed to return from her holiday in Ireland to deal with a pollution crisis. More recently, she lost a battle with the Transport Minister, Mr Jean-Claude Gayssot, to raise taxes on polluting diesel fuel.

Ms Voynet and Mr Gayssot are still fighting over the "green sticker" which is to replace the odd-even system.

The government is counting on wind and rain to prevent a new pollution crisis. "We're praying that the month of October will bring us rotten autumn weather, rainy and windy," a Ministry of the Environment official said.