Skip to main content

Drop in French road deaths ‘due to speed cameras’

Figures released by France’s National Council for Road Safety (CNSR) indicate that the number of people killed on French roads dropped by fifteen per cent in the first half of 2013 compared with the same period last year. Interior Minister Manuel Valls said that 257 fewer people had died in road accidents compared with the first six months of 2012. 2012 was also a record year, with an improvement of eight per cent over 2011. “These results are extremely encouraging,” said Valls, who reiterated his
July 15, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Figures released by France’s National Council for Road Safety (CNSR) indicate that the number of people killed on French roads dropped by fifteen per cent in the first half of 2013 compared with the same period last year.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls said that 257 fewer people had died in road accidents compared with the first six months of 2012.  2012 was also a record year, with an improvement of eight per cent over 2011.

“These results are extremely encouraging,” said Valls, who reiterated his ambition to reduce the number of fatalities, 3,645 in the whole of 2012, to 2,000 by 2020.
Speed was the primary cause of fatal accidents, said Valls, who has asked the CNSR to consider introducing aircraft-style black boxes in cars, so that the precise cause of accidents can be established.

A drop of 29.5 per cent in May on the year before was attributed by the CNSR attributed to gloomy weather, the financial crisis which has caused motorists to drive more slowly and the introduction of new speed cameras on French roads.

“Without speed cameras we would not have seen such a reduction,” said Valls, adding that the number of mobile cameras in unmarked cars, which have been subject to huge publicity, would soon rise to 100, adding to the 4,000 fixed radars across France.

Related Content

  • Stepped speed limits improve workzone congestion and safety
    January 30, 2012
    Traffic flow has been improved, congestion eased and safety increased - by a system of 'stepped speed limits' introduced to UK roadworks. URS Scott Wilson principal consultant Jamie Uff reports
  • UK motorists concerned about increase in mobile phone use while driving
    November 23, 2016
    Over 86 per cent of UK motorists think distraction caused by mobile phones has become worse in the last three years, according to the second Safety Culture Survey commissioned by road safety charity IAM RoadSmart. In second place was congestion at 81 per cent, reflecting the increasing number of vehicles on the roads as the recession ends. Of the 2,000 UK drivers surveyed, nearly three quarters believed aggressive driving had worsened over the last three years, with more than 60 per cent reporting the
  • Speed cameras yield long-term safety benefits, IIHS study shows
    September 2, 2015
    A speed-camera program in a large community near Washington, DC, has led to long-term changes in driver behaviour and substantial reductions in deaths and injuries, a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) shows. Automated speed enforcement is gradually becoming more common around the country but remains relatively rare, with only 138 jurisdictions operating such programs as of last month. According to IIHS, if all US communities had speed-camera programs like the one IIHS studied in
  • Call for Juncker to reverse decision to drop serious road injury target
    June 10, 2015
    More than 40 European organisations concerned with road safety, together with 11 members of the European Parliament have sent a letter to President Jean-Claude Juncker urging him to not drop setting new EU target to cut serious road injuries. The letter was sent yesterday by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), ahead of Thursday's meeting of national transport ministers in Luxembourg where the target was set to be announced. The European Transport Safety Council has learnt that the announcemen