Road safety: increased number of deaths in 2015 – Le Point

In an interview to be published Wednesday in Le Parisien / Today in France, Bernard Cazeneuve announced that “the number of injury crashes decreased by 3.6% but mortality is up 2.4% with 3464 people killed. ” Board radars, speed limit of 80 km / h, zero alcohol for novice drivers … More than 80 measures announced in one year, and to no avail: the numbers of road deaths in 2015, announced Tuesday night by the Interior Minister, continued to rise.

The time when the trend was changing down seems remote. For the first time in 35 years, deaths on French roads is increasing for two consecutive years. In 2014, after twelve years of decline, road safety had increased by 3.5%, or 3,384 deaths, compared to 2013. In 2015, “the number of accidents decreases, the number of accidents serious decreases, the number of hospitalized persons decreased but the number of fatal accidents rises “had already observed Bernard Cazeneuve, interviewed Sunday on France 5.

Lowering the speed limit

surprising for specialists noted an increase in monthly reports published by the Road Safety: on the first eleven months, the increase was 2.1% compared to the same period in 2014, totaling 3,164 killed and 66 more victims. “The state takes precautions, it multiplies the controls but nothing can substitute for individual responsibility” had hammered Bernard Cazeneuve.

And in this area, the measures taken have been prolific in 2015 with Among other things, the reduction of 0.5 g / l to 0.2 g / l of BAC for novice drivers, the possibility for mayors to lower the rate on all or part of their agglomeration 30 km / h, the modernization of radars 4200 Park, or the ban on wearing the headset while driving. The state had also started experimenting on three sections of the reduction from 90 to 80 km / h the speed limit and salivary tests in 11 departments to track and fight against drug use.

A new awareness campaign

Coercive measures that aim to achieve less than 2000 deaths on the roads by 2020, the stated objective by the government. “The increase is mechanical,” tempers with Agence France Presse Chasseray Pierre, executive director of the association “40 million motorists.” “In 2012 and 2013 we experienced extremely sharp falls, inevitably there could be a recovery on the rise”, told Agence France Presse that defender drivers. “The measures are useless, there was an improvement in behavior on the roads,” he says, noting the decrease in the number of accidents.

One thing that is far from share the president of the League against road violence, Chantal Perrichon: “In 2015 we had a record with 81 steps to ultimately see an increase in mortality, it is irresponsible.” “This is the first cause of death among young people, and the world of work”, this plague activist particular request the government to “generalize on secondary roads the speed limit to 80 km / h (against 90 km / h) to save 400 lives a year. “

On Thursday, the Road Safety unveil to the press its new awareness campaign on” the impact of road accidents in the French population. ” “These are two million people in our country who suffer from road mortality for decades,” said Chantal Perrichon. “If we took the necessary measures, we would not need to do this kind of campaign.”