In April, while traffic was reduced in full confinement linked to the coronavirus, 103 people died on the roads of France, a decrease of 56% compared to the same month of 2019. Matthieu Grossetête is a sociologist, author of “Accidents of the road and social inequalities ”(Editions du Croquant 2012). For him, most of the fatal accidents that took place while France was confined targeted workers at the bottom of the social ladder who had to continue working, mainly in rural areas.
Traffic dropped dramatically during containment. Why do we continue to deplore deaths on the road?
MATTHIEU GROSSETÊTE . Accidentality is not correlated with the number of vehicles in circulation. There are almost five times less deaths on the roads than 40 years ago, while the number of vehicles on the road has increased threefold. With regard to confinement, everything indicates that it has exacerbated social inequalities. For example, in rural areas, where nearly 80% of road deaths occur, confinement has not abolished certain trips, particularly to obtain supplies.
Who do you think are these road accident victims during confinement?
Employees at the bottom of the social ladder, delivery men, garbage collectors, cashiers, construction workers, etc. who were among the most exposed to road mortality before the health crisis, were undoubtedly even more so during this period, because they were forced to continue their professional activity and therefore had little, no or less concern with confinement. They generally live further from their place of work than the better-off social categories and must take more accident-prone roads, sometimes at night, without always having the means necessary to drive in a reliable and secure vehicle.
Road safety communicated around the fact that the decrease in the number of vehicles encouraged speeding behavior. What's your take on this?
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The questioning of individual behavior is convenient politically, because it leaves in the shade the social causes of road mortality: urban sprawl, the dissociation of residential spaces and employment areas, the gentrification of city centers , the uneven security of vehicles and infrastructure or the growing insecurity of working-class environments…
In your book, you explain that "the working classes are not the most dangerous on the road, but the most in danger". What do you mean ?
As with environmental nuisances, a distinction must be made between those who are exposed to risks and those who generate them. Drivers from the lower classes are not dangerous, but in danger, as they tend to kill themselves alone without involving other users.
