Many mayors are frustrated by drivers using their towns and villages as shortcuts to avoid busy main roads, based on suggested routes provided by the popular navigation app Waze.
The Waze app has become essential for many drivers making their way to popular tourist spots on unfamiliar roads or looking to scrape a few minutes off their daily commute to work.
It warns drivers where they risk getting bogged down in traffic and recommends alternative routes to save them time.
Read more: Why GPS apps will not always suggest the fastest route in France
Shortcuts through villages
However, in many cases it directs drivers down shortcuts through tiny villages.
This is the case for the village of Saint-Montan with 180 residents, which reports 1,000 vehicles a day through its narrow streets from spring to autumn, causing “monster jams” as people leave the A7 motorway and head towards the Gorges de l’Ardèche.
On weekends, bank holidays and pont days from April 1 to September 30, the town of Valence, in Drôme, has put a barrier across a country road on the Lautagne plateau that is commonly suggested by Waze and Google Maps.
Residents complained of traffic jams, including many cars with foreign number plates, every time the A8 was busy.
The road goes past homes and a primary school.
One resident said: “It wasn’t just cars, it was trucks, campervans, caravans…”
Read more: What are the best road maps to use in France?
Towns fight back
At Bègles, near Bordeaux, the mairie had to change the commune’s street plan, creating new one-way streets to help manage the overload, cutting traffic by 16% with 2,700 fewer vehicles per day.
Similarly, the mairie of Lieusaint, Seine-et-Marne, has put traffic lights near the town entrance that only work in the morning rush hour…
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