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

  • Drink-drive casualty figures ‘unacceptable’ says IAM
    February 5, 2016
    The numbers of people killed and seriously injured on British roads as a result of drink driving have remained largely static for the last five years, according to the latest government figures. The figures show that between 210 and 270 people were killed in accidents in Britain where at least one driver was over the drink-drive limit, with a central estimate of 240 deaths; unchanged since 2010. The number of seriously injured casualties in drink-drive accidents fell by per cent from 1,100 in 2013 to
  • TTI study underscores safety benefits of red light cameras
    March 23, 2012
    New research claims that red light cameras help to reduce the number of crashes at intersections where they are installed. The study, although limited to Texas, is claimed to be one of the most extensive so far in the US, and researchers say the findings demonstrate that the automated enforcement method offers an effective means of preventing crash-related deaths and injuries. The 69-page report, - Evaluation of Photographic Traffic Signal Enforcement Systems in Texas - which is available at this link, is t
  • New South Wales study indicates lower speed zones reduce deaths
    July 4, 2017
    A new study into 40km/h speed zones in New South Wales, Australia indicates they are reducing deaths and injuries in high pedestrian and traffic areas.
  • City Safety reduces low speed accidents on Volvo’s XC60 and S60
    May 29, 2013
    It was four years ago that Volvo introduced its City Safety collision avoidance system which is designed to reduce the number and severity of low-speed accidents to the US market. However, a study in America by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) has shown that the results may not be as good as initially indicated by an earlier report. According to Volvo, statistics show that 75% of reported collisions occur at speeds of up to 30km/h (18.6mph) typically in urban traffic and in slow-moving traffic queues