At least six dead in an accident in Ariège: is the RN20 between Toulouse and Andorra too accident-prone?
At least six people died this Friday in a frontal collision between two cars on National Road 20, which leads to Andorra. The section is particularly used by motorists.
Nicolas Pech, the mayor of Savignac-les-Ormeaux, assures him: “It is not a very accident-prone place. The RN 20 in general, yes, but not on this section. From memory, since it opened in 2016, there has been only one accident with death, but it was further away, at the level of the access ramp; but we have never seen such a serious fatal accident there. After Ax-les-Thermes in the direction of Andorra, it is more difficult, but here the view is clear, there is no particular difficulty and the authorities set up a speed camera from time to time. Afterwards, there is always an element of fatality…”
Remarks confirmed by the director of cabinet of the Prefecture Guillaume Afonso, who evokes “a way which is very borrowed, but where we have never had an accident of such gravity. »
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Terrible accident in Ariège: a frontal impact kills at least 6 people near Ax-les-Thermes
Commander Benoît Delpas, head of the SDIS 09 operational services group (departmental fire and rescue service), is more cautious: placed in the axis of a low sun at certain times of the day, with a radar posted much further, the RN 20 in this sector would be reputed to be the site of many accidents, although of a much lesser gravity.
The fact remains that with a flow of more than 21,000 vehicles coming from Foix in summer, of which 5,000 to 6,000 go to Puymorens, and an annual passage of 3.5 million vehicles on average, the axis of the RN 20 remains the most indicated in the department.
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VIDEO. Terrible accident in Ariège: victims, injured … what we know about the frontal impact which left at least six dead including two children
This dramatic accident weighs down in any case a road safety record which was until now a little below the average of previous years, since after two consecutive years marked by 10 deaths on the roads of Ariège, 2022 has not seen so far only four traffic victims, all on two wheels. Figures and a tragedy that can only encourage greater caution.