In 15 years, road behaviour has changed. Less alcohol and excessive speeding but more “small” risky behaviour, especially with smartphones.
On Wednesday 19th June, 2019, AXA Prévention unveiled the results of its 15th barometer focused on the behaviour of French on the roads *. A barometer created in 2004 and which highlighted, 15 years later, significant changes, especially with the telephone.
High speed and drunk driving down
In this period of exams, we will start by awarding a good grade. It concerns high speed and drunk driving, the two leading causes of accidents , which show a decreasing percentage.
Eric Lemaire, President of AXA Prevention, summarizes:
“In 15 years, the combined action of prevention campaigns and the tightening of regulations have hit the consciences of the French. In 2004, 19% of them reported driving after drinking more than four or five glasses of alcohol. In 2019, there is only 6%. Same for big speeding. In 2019, 11% recognize driving at 160-170 km/h on the motorway against 29% in 2004.”
However, efforts remain to be made. In the town in particular. They are 30% to admit driving at more than 65 km / h, against 48% in 2004. If the decline is significant, the level of such a practice remains high, excessive speed in the urban area significantly endangering pedestrians, cyclists and others using micro-mobility.
“One in four drivers text or read a text message while driving”
The phone remains one of the big black spots of road safety. Captain Cédric Roger, an expert in road safety for the National Gendarmerie, indicates that 800 offences per day are reported by the gendarmes on the phone while driving.
At the wheel of their car more and more connected and equipped, motorists allow themselves, for 46% of them, to use the phone while driving and, for 59%, to use their smartphone, for any use. Eric Lemaire states:
“One in four drivers text messages or reads an SMS while driving and one in two concedes to have their eyes riveted to the GPS of their smartphone, a distractor not without danger especially when it is placed on the lap of the driver or on the passenger seat. The intensive use of young people is even alarming: 83% recognize using it while driving.”
The dangers of scooters
It’s not just the wheel that the phone is dangerous. 41% of scooter users admit to using their smartphone while driving. Moreover, these new modes of urban mobility have been sifted through the barometer of Axa prevention. Scooters and e-bikes, Segways, Gyros, and other hoverboards flood the sidewalks and encroach heavily on the pedestrian space.
While bikers are still perceived as the most dangerous users of the road (51%) in front of motorists (47%), the scooters make their appearance on the podium with 36% of French respondents who find them dangerous.
61% of them admit to missing a pedestrian at a brisk pace. Blame it on a lack of infrastructure and regulation. On this last point, things should quickly change since a regulation will be applicable from September 2019 . The National Gendarmerie has just dedicated one of his videos, stamped ” The boost of the blue ” to these recent developments.
#LeCoupDePouceDuBleu Les engins de déplacement personnel motorisés #22
Utilisateurs d’engins de déplacement personnel motorisés, 🛴 connaissez-vous les règles de #sécurité?
Allez, c’est cadeau, petits rappels pour circuler sans danger 🚶⬇️ pic.twitter.com/od9ZnXhUkH— Gendarmerie nationale (@Gendarmerie) 15 May 2019
Cédric Roger reminds the importance of prevention, especially with primary school students via the pedestrian permit, the young public via social networks and the need for repression to change behaviour.
* This 15th AXA Prevention 2019 Barometer of the behaviour of French people on the roads comes from a Kantar TNS study for AXA Prévention conducted from January 25 to February 14, 2019, among a sample of 1,996 people representative of the resident population in France metropolitan aged 18 to 75 years.
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