PARIS: Paris saw near-record levels of traffic on its roads as the start of France’s second national lockdown loomed.
Data downloaded from Sytadin, which measures traffic in the capital, showed that there were more than 700km of traffic in the French capital on Thursday night before 9pm, which marked the start of the regional curfew and also the beginning of a new national lockdown.
Traffic peaked between 6pm and 7pm in the capital city.
The mad rush to leave and return to the city could continue throughout for the next two days, with the government stating that they would be tolerant of people returning from holidays.
“Traffic is barely moving in every direction as far as the eye can see. Lots of honking and frustrated drivers,” tweeted author Michael E Webber, who posted a viral video of large swaths of traffic.
Others on social media called the traffic jams both a “mess” and “legendary”.
France’s second lockdown will restrict people to their homes until at least December 1, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday in a speech that was watched by more than 33 million viewers.