French road deaths cause for concern

France has achieved major results in reducing road deaths in the last 10 years but now appears to have hit a barrier with regard to better road safety. The figures for road deaths in July 2017 were better than for 2016. There were 346 fatalities in July 2017 compared with 356 road deaths in July 2016. However there were 5,121 crashes in July 2017, an increase of 41 from July 2016. At the same time there were 7,204 injuries in July 2017, an increase of 226 from July 2016, although serious injuries requiring hospitalisation dropped by 167 to 2,589.

Over the entire year ending in July 2017, road deaths, injuries and crashes all saw increases. There were 58,994 crashes reported in this time period, an increase of 2,048 from the previous 12 months, while deaths and injuries climbed by 3,634 to 78,643. There were 3,527 people killed in road crashes in the 12 months to July 2017, an increase of 27 from the previous 12 months. Road fatalities amongst pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and vehicle occupants rose by 11%, 21%, 8% and 1% respectively. Of note however was the 17% drop in road deaths for moped riders during the 12 month period, and which represents a 52% fall compared with the figures for 2010.