EXCESSIVE PARKING TICKETS, ENDLESS CAR POUNDS: THE GREAT DRIVER RIP-OFF? | C8 | Enquête sous haute tension

Car pounds, parking tickets: these are the daily nightmare for 40 million drivers in France, both in Paris and the provinces. Since 2018, cities have set the level for parking tickets: 70% of them have elected to increase the cost of the “ticket”, sometimes in extreme proportions, as in Paris, Lyon, Strasburg and Nantes, where fines have at least doubled! What are the methods used by these municipalities to maximize their income? Where will this drift to a policy of the bottom line lead us? Concerning car pounds, the pressure has also risen fast: tow-trucks zig-zagging at top speed through the streets, running red lights, failing to give way in order to tow increasing numbers of cars. By managing to get employed by one of the towing companies, we discovered the dark side: drivers without the required permits or taking drugs while on shift, vehicles that should be banned under French regulations… And the authorities turning a blind eye! Finally, we take a close look at the 80kph limit on our roads that is so much debated. Will this measure really save lives? In Denmark, they did the exact opposite, with limits not so low and more relaxed radar checks. Have these measures, unthinkable in France, increased the number of accidents and deaths on the roads?