increase in the number of road deaths this summer
The summer will have been deadly on part of the Normandy roads. Mortality figures are on the rise. In Seine-Maritime, again on Sunday, a motorist lost his life on the Sud 3 near Grand-Couronne, near Rouen. Have the public authorities decided to crack down on this return to school?
Was the summer more deadly than usual on the roads in the region? For example, in the Seine-Maritime department, 8 people lost their lives in accidents in July, compared to 4 in 2019 and 2 in 2021. There are also more accidents: 73 in July compared to 62 a year ago.
Among the dramas that marked the summer, this 22-year-old young man who lost his life on Sunday August 28 in Grand-Couronne, near Rouen, and another 19-year-old in a state of absolute emergency in Sainte-Austreberthe, helicoptered to Rouen University Hospital.
We also have in mind at the end of April this accident which occurred on the Quai Ferdinand Lesseps, close to the premises of France 3 Normandy. The motorist was traveling at more than 120 kilometers per hour on an axis limited to 50 km / h. Residents are asking for improvements. Terminals J11, large white terminals, have been put in place in recent days.
“Millions of French people take to the road to go on vacation in the summer. The summer period, marked by important crossovers, is unfortunately marked by a peak of accidentality”indicated the prefecture of Seine-Maritime in a press release published on August 26.
Almost half – 44% of deaths in 2022 in Seine-Maritime – are not motorists. This is what road safety calls “vulnerable users »: pedestrians, cyclists, drivers of motorized two-wheelers or even electric scooters. On this last point, pay attention also to the behavior of the drivers of these very fashionable machines. In Lyon, for example last Monday, two teenagers died.
An association manager deplores the lack of regulation for this mode of transport. “The children were two on the scooter, it is strictly forbidden. They did not have a helmet, the latter is not compulsory. It is the role of the authorities to inform on how to behave “, rebels Jean-Paul Camberlin, general secretary of the Rouen Public Transport Committee.
It depends. Not these two young drivers arrested last week on the A150 between Yvetot and Barentin at 174 km / h and 192 km / h. Well above the 110 km / h authorized on this axis for young people allowed. The two vehicles were boarded, the licenses of the two drivers were also suspended; the A150 where since the beginning of August, a new radar has been set up when leaving Rouen, towards Dieppe and Le Havre. For a year and a half already, the speed had been lowered from 110 to 90.
Faced with this road safety issue, the prefect of Seine-Maritime has instructed the police to continue and intensify checks in the most exposed sectors and axes, targeting dates and time slots. suitable hours.
At the departmental level and since the beginning of the summer period, the security forces have focused on:
- 119 search operations for driving under alcohol or narcotics.
- 127 speed control operations
A total of 10,129 offenses were recorded, including 4,199 serious offenses leading to accidents that led to the retention of 598 licenses and the immobilization of 1,016 vehicles.
Another subject was debated this summer: the speed on the departmental roads of Eure and Seine-Maritime remains limited to 80 km/h. Some departments have increased to 90 (45 in total throughout France). This is not the case with us.
In the department of Eure, same observation. Since January 2022: 311 accidents and 18 fatalities. A number of deaths in sharp decline compared to 2021 but which doubled compared to the end of June (9 killed in the 1st half of 2022).
In 2022, the main factors of fatal accidents are:
- alcohol (present in 41% of fatal accidents),
- excessive or inappropriate speed (present in 35% of fatal accidents),
- the use of narcotics (present in 18% of fatal accidents)
The victims are killed users of light vehicles (9), users of motorized two-wheelers (6) who this year are particularly affected by accidents.
About the control operations, the police observed a deterioration in road behaviour. As of July 31, 2022, the number of blood alcohol offenses was up 37% (1,405 offenses in 2022 compared to 1,028 in 2021), as was the number of positive narcotics tests (+25%). Also increase in offenses for not stopping at a red light (+37%), crossing a continuous line (+16%), not stopping at a stop sign (+117%), using the telephone (+32%), or not wearing the belt (+30%).