An improvement is being seen in French road safety figures. This positive change follows a reduction in speed limits on secondary roads from 90km/h to 80km/h. The speed limit reduction was introduced on 1st July 2018 and is estimated to have reduced the fatality rate by around 116. During 2018, there were 3,259 road deaths in France, a drop of 5.5% from 2017. Similarly, the number of people requiring hospital treatment following road crashes dropped by 25%.
The speed reduction has faced criticism from drivers however and may be revised. Cutting speeds on secondary roads has been considered of key importance for boosting safety as many of these are two lane routes with one lane in either direction with a greater risk of head-on collisions due to poor overtaking or loss of control.
