Rush hour "motorway" madness hits French town

Spare a thought for the inhabitants of Sannois, a town of 25,000 on the outskirts of Paris, and perhaps also for motorists on their way to work in the French capital.

Every weekday morning for an hour from 7.30am the town centre shudders and judders to the rhythm of passing traffic, and one small residential road in particular has locals feeling as though they're living alongside a motorway.

It's all thanks to the wonders of modern technology. Drivers aren't there by accident, rather it's that helpful little motorist's mate, the GPS (SatNav) that has directed them there.

The route is supposed to be an alternative to sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the nearby A15 motorway, with the computerised voice of in-car navigation advising motorists whose cars are equipped with GPS to take an exit and make their way through the town to avoid congestion further ahead.

Instead they now find themselves slap bang in the middle of another delightful traffic jam, which leaves tempers fraying, locals furious and the town almost gridlocked.

There's one street in particular that's especially hard hit, the narrow residential rue des Saules-Bridault.

One local, who has been living in the street for the last 22 years told the national daily, Le Monde, that the situation had become unbearable.

"It has been like this for the past couple of years," Joëlle Roussel the paper.

"The street has become an alternative motorway. The other day I had to let 18 cars pass before I could get out of my driveway."

Roussel is not alone, and it's not just those living locally who want to drive to work who are having problems with the excess traffic. Pedestrians also feel they're taking their lives in their hands.

"It has become complete madness every morning," another resident, Paul Couturier, told the paper. "When I take my son to school, I have to put him on my shoulders to avoid the risks of passing cars."

Stéphane Lagresle, the European marketing director for Tele Atlas, a company that provides digital maps for in-car navigation (among other things) told TF1 news that GPS in itself wasn't to blame, as motorists could always programme another route that might at first appear less logical to the system.

He explained that when calculating the "quickest" route GPS currently only takes into account speed limits and not traffic lights or roundabouts which could effectively lengthen journey time.

So a news team decided to test for themselves what motorists were being told by their GPS as they headed into Paris along the A15 during rush hour. And sure enough the computerised voice told them to take the exit that would have them passing directly through Sannois and along rue des Saules-Bridault.

"The current state of affairs is encouraging all drivers to become verbally aggressive and contributing to road rage," Geneviève Malidin, from a committee representing local residents said.

"And that's especially true if someone is trying to back out of their garage into the street."

Residents are fed up with waiting for technology to progress enough for an "intelligent GPS" to factor in all possible variants to dissuade motorists from following to the letter, a route that's not proving any quicker than remaining on the motorway. They're putting pressure on the local council to act.

The mayor of the town, Yannick Paternotte, has announced that a commission will be set up to resolve the problem - especially that of rue des Saules-Bridault, and there'll be a public enquiry. But he also issued a word of warning.

"We have to find an overall solution," he said. "It won't be enough to put a no-entry sign on this street as that will simply divert the problem to another road."

As they say here in France, "Bonne route". Or in this case, maybe not.

How things have changed. Sannois, rue d'Eaubonne
and station, circa 1900 (from Wikipedia. Copyright expired)