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French road accidents on the increase

The road accident rate in France looks to be on the increase as a result of changes in laws, which have softened penalties for offences.
February 22, 2012 Read time: 1 min
The road accident rate in France looks to be on the increase as a result of changes in laws, which have softened penalties for offences.

The latest report from France’s national crime observatory, 3031 ONDRP, shows that numbers of serious driving offences are increasing in the
country.

The number of deaths on the road rose sharply, up 21.2% in January and 7.5% in February. The ONDRP has said that this is an inevitable result of the change in law and that it will now be difficult to reduce the number of roads deaths below 3,000 per annum by 2012 as planned by the French government.

For several years France has been able to reduce its road accident rate with much tougher enforcement having been a noted factor.

However, a weakening of the laws regarding the points system for driving licences is thought to be a major factor in the increase in driving offences and road deaths. The changes have not affected regulations for more serious driving offences though.
          
The ONDRP report says that in January and February, 2011, the number of drink or drugdriving offences grew 16.42% compared with the previous year, while speeding offences jumped 55.75% and incidences of driving without a licence climbed 19.16%.

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