Question 8807 — road safety

Summary

The Interministerial Road Safety Committee convened on January 9, 2018 by the Prime Minister demonstrates the Government's desire to save more lives on our roads and to continue the proactive and innovative policy already initiated in terms of road safety. The Government cannot ignore those who were killed on metropolitan and overseas roads, just as it cannot ignore the 76,840 injured in 2017, including more than 29,000 hospitalized, some of whom will have lifelong after-effects. It is to reduce these dramatic figures that he has taken the necessary measures. During the interministerial committee in January 2018, 18 measures were decided, including measure no. 5, the aim of which is to reduce the maximum authorized speed outside urban areas. Thus, according to the terms of decree no. 2018-487 of June 15, 2018 relating to maximum authorized speeds of vehicles, which implements this measure, on two-way roads without a central divider, the maximum authorized speed is 80 km/h from July 1, 2018. However, on sections of roads comprising at least two lanes assigned to the same direction of traffic and thus allowing the safe overtaking of vehicles, the maximum authorized speed is maintained at 90 km/h and on these only ways. Speed ​​increases both the occurrence of accidents – whatever the cause – and their severity. Excessive or inappropriate speed is the leading cause of death on French roads (31%). In 2017, 3,684 people lost their lives on the French road network. Two-thirds of fatal accidents (63%), or 2,156 people killed, occurred on the road network outside urban areas and off motorways. that is to say on two-way roads which were mostly limited to 90 km/h. The aim of implementing such a measure is to save numerous human lives each year; experts Goran NIELSSON and Rune ELVIK estimated that a reduction of 1 km/h in speed translates into a saving of 100 lives over a year. By reducing the maximum authorized speed by 10 km/h, it is hoped to save 300 to 400 lives per year. The measure makes it possible to reduce the impact of speed, to the extent that it contributes to the anticipation of dangers and reduces braking distances (the stopping distance is 57 meters for a vehicle traveling at 80 km/h compared to 70 meters for a vehicle traveling at 90 km/h). This lowering of the maximum authorized speed to 80 km/h will also make traffic flow more fluid and calm it down, with beneficial consequences. on the environment (reduction in pollutant emissions). The experiment of lowering the maximum authorized speed to 80 km/h carried out between July 2015 and July 2017, thus setting an identical maximum authorized speed for all vehicles, light and heavy goods vehicles, gave the results that this reduction did not lead to a platooning effect, that is to say a traffic jam behind heavy goods vehicles. Consequently, the Road users will no longer have to overtake heavy goods vehicles as the progression of vehicles will be homogeneous and without platooning effect.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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