Black Saturday (France)
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Black Saturday (samedi noir in French) refers, in France, to the day of the year when road traffic is most dense due to the many departures on holiday. (Traffic problems are exacerbated by France's extreme centralisation, with Paris being the hub of the entire national highway network.) This Saturday is usually at the end of July, though in 2007 both the last Saturday of July and the first Saturday of August are designated as Black Saturdays.
The
, is usually particularly busy. In 2004 there was more than 700 kilometres (430 mi) in accumulated traffic congestion.The black colour is the qualification with which the French government web site Bison Futé designates a day with extrêmement dense (extremely busy) traffic.[1] The French newspapers call this day samedi noir after Bison Futé's designation.[2] Usually, the French call these days les jours de grands départs (days of great departures). In Dutch, this French phenomenon was known as zwarte zaterdag long before the French adopted the term samedi noir, both meaning (literally) Black Saturday.[3]
The term Black Saturday may also refer to Saturday July 31, 1982, when the worst
See also
- List of road accidents
- Beaune coach crash
References
- ^ Calendrier Bison Futé (French)
- ^ Bison futé prévoit un "samedi noir", premiers bouchons, Le Monde, 28 July 2006 (French)
- ^ Het Hurktoilet (Dutch)
- ^ Il y a vingt ans, l'accident de Beaune Archived 2009-08-04 at the Wayback Machine (French, meaning: Twenty years ago today, the Beaune accident)