With limited movement due to confinement, the death rate decreased by 39.6% on the roads of France in March 2020.
It is one of the effects of confinement. The mortality on the roads of France fell by 39.6% in March 2020, according to the latest estimates of the National Interministerial Observatory for Road Safety (ONISR).
[À LA UNE] “Il n’est évidemment pas question qu’une guerre des masques ait lieu entre les collectivités locales et l’État” a déclaré hier Christophe Castaner, la semaine ayant donné lieu à des tensions avec des élus locaux qui dénoncent les injonctions de l’Etat (4/5) #AFP pic.twitter.com/4n1LwEmIXm
— Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) April 11, 2020
In detail, 154 people died on the roads, against 255 in March 2019. This is 101 fewer people killed (- 39.6%).
The number of bodily injuries stood at 2,443 compared to 4,298 in March 2019, i.e. 1,855 fewer bodily injuries (- 43.2%).
2,965 people were injured compared to 5,326 in March 2019, or 2,361 fewer people (- 44.3%).
Fewer trips, fewer deaths
If the consequences of confinement are evident in these latest data, they are however to be put into perspective in particular with regard to the first quarter of 2020 with regard to “crisis management linked to the Covid-19”, notes the Ministry of the Interior in a communicated.
In fact, according to ONISR, 636 people would have died in 2020 against 746 in 2019, a decrease of – 15% or 110 people killed less, and 80 people less than the average over 5 years (2013-2017) .
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An increase in speeding tickets
However, large speeding tickets are still required according to the police. Often of the order of 50 km / h beyond the authorized speed.
For example, these major speeding tickets “recorded by automated control alone during the week from March 30 to April 5, 2020 increased by 12% compared to the last week before confinement (March 9 to 15) ”
“Trompe l’oeil” figures
For David Julliard, the deputy to road safety delegate interviewed by AFP, “these are deceptive figures”: “on the one hand it is the best month in the history of safety road, because we have dropped below 200 dead, “he rejoices.
However, he also points out that “this reduction is less than that of traffic”. It is, therefore, a “higher figure than expected”, he regrets.
A regret shared by the director-general of the association 40 million motorists, Pierre Chasseray, who describes these figures as “catastrophic”: “currently we are in a period where there should be zero accidents”, he says.
“Each accident is a terrible behavioral failure.”
“The least you can do is be careful when you take the car”, explains the director-general, while asking more police on the roads to stop “these madmen playing Russian roulette driving “.
