Three weeks after the deconfinement and the return of the French on the roads, Road Safety is worried on Saturday of "first alarming figures" with an increase in fatal accidents and a jump of 15% in major speeding tickets.
"Increased risk behavior"
A campaign calling for caution during the deconfinement had been launched in early May. "Alas, our fears seemed well founded since the first figures coming back from the field are quite alarming in terms of mortality," said David Julliard, the assistant to the interministerial delegate for road safety, in an interview with the newspaper Le Parisien . During the Ascension Bridge, "there were many deadly accidents and the number of deaths was higher than last year at the same time," he reports.
If this excess mortality can partly be explained by "the weather", because "the good weather often results in an increase in serious accidents", David Julliard is also alarmed by an "increase in risky behavior". "Between May 11 and May 27, we noted 2,421 major speeding tickets, over 50 km / h above the speed limit," he explains. "This is 321 more than in 2019 over the same period, an increase of almost 15%, which is enormous."
Historic drop in death toll in April
"We have also been informed of an increase in red light crossings," he added. "This confirms a form of laxity or disinhibition of driving behavior on the part of a minority of drivers."
The containment put in place to fight the new coronavirus epidemic caused a historic drop in the number of deaths in April, with 55.8% fewer people killed compared to the same period last year. However, Road Safety was already alarmed by an upsurge in speeding during this period.