Paris (AFP)
The law which will allow to derogate locally to 80 km / h is expected in the coming weeks, but many heads of departmental councils are still hesitant to take the plunge, fearing a "trap" of the government which has placed them before their responsibilities.
The Law of orientation of mobilities (LOM), under examination by the Constitutional Council, must be promulgated "at the end of the year, beginning of next year", one indicates to the Road safety.
In some departments, we get impatient. The text will make it possible to go back to 90 km / h part of the two-way secondary roads without central separator. Since July 1, 2018, the speed limit had been lowered to 80 km / h, triggering a sling of motorists, bikers and elected officials.
Twenty-five departments (Cantal, Côte-d'Or, Corrèze, Haute-Saône, Loir-et-Cher, Lozère, Orne, Maine-et-Loire, Tarn ...) have already announced their intention to pass a part of the roads at 90 km / h, according to a census carried out by AFP in 87 departments of metropolitan France *.
In Haute-Marne, "we are ready to press the button. The studs are already sunk, ready to receive the new panels (90 km / h)", says the office of the president of the departmental council Nicolas Lacroix.
But a majority of local executive heads (42) - including fervent pro-90 km / h - are suspicious and are waiting to see the modalities that will be set by law.
"There are innuendo and unsaid" in the text, said Jean-Marie Bernard, president of the Hautes-Alpes departmental council. For many, the flexibility allowed by the government - in response to the "yellow vests" crisis - is "a masquerade", a "coarse trap".
"Returning this decision to the presidents of the departments, leaving them the responsibility of assuming an authorized gear change, when the initial decision was taken without them, seems really very insidious", do we estimate at the departmental council of the Aude.
- Responsibility -
Going back to 90 km / h, "these are decisions that are heavy and that we must assume in conscience", had warned Edouard Philippe last January, announcing figures "historic" to the decline in road mortality (3,488 killed in 2018) after six months of 80 km / h.
In June, the committee of experts of the National Road Safety Council published "decision-making aid" for departmental councils. He recommends in particular not to go back to 90 km / h on sections of less than ten kilometers, which would include public transport stops or would be used by agricultural machinery.
Although purely indicative, these "elements" crystallize the fears. Some heads of department (Alpes-Maritimes, Yvelines, Territoire-de-Belfort ...) say they gave up on seeing these criteria.
In some departments wishing to return to 90 km / h, we are waiting to see the content of the LOM to decide the mileage of roads that will ultimately be affected (Aveyron, Dordogne, Jura ...). "Meeting all of these criteria seems like a challenge," said Dordognot Germinal Peiro.
"This is not a legal constraint," recalls the interministerial delegate for road safety Emmanuel Barbe: "These are recommendations to explain under what conditions going back to 90 km / h does not present a major risk".
The routes envisaged to return to 90 km / h must be submitted for an advisory opinion to a departmental road safety commission. But "in the event of an accident, our responsibility could obviously be engaged if we decide all the same to raise the speed", fears the president of the departmental council of Marne, Christian Bruyen.
"By threatening the presidents of department of recourse in justice on behalf of victims of the road, the government clearly puts pressure on the departmental executives", indignant his counterpart of Côte-d'Or, François Sauvadet.
This opponent of 80 km / h will raise the speed limit but has lowered his ambitions. "I had initially announced that 80% to 90% of the departmental network could go back to 90 km / h. The new rules, defined unilaterally by the government, will prevent me from doing so. However, all the structural axes will go back to 90 km / h ", he assures.
Passing these 1,000 kilometers of roads at 90 km / h will require the installation of approximately 780 signs, or an amount of 333,000 euros. In some departments, such as Nièvre, this cost is a deterrent.
By choice or "constrained", twenty departments (including Gironde, Ardennes, Bouches-du-Rhône, Gard, Morbihan, community of Corsica, Loire-Atlantique, Ille-et-Vilaine ...) have announced that they will remain at 80 km / h.
* Paris and the departments of the outer suburbs (Seine-Saint-Denis, Hauts-de-Seine, val-de-Marne) are not affected because they do not have roads outside the built-up area. The departments of Charente-Maritime, Hautes-Pyrénées, Indre and Meuse did not respond to requests from AFP.
© 2019 AFP