The decrease in the number of traffic offenses is mainly due to the degradation of automatic speed cameras, says Road Safety. For the fourth year in a row, road crime, the most serious offense, is on the rise.
The number of traffic offenses recorded in 2018 has decreased by 18% compared to 2017, announced Wednesday, October 9 Road Safety, more because radars victims of a "massive degradation" have noted fewer offenses than because dangerous behavior has declined.
A total of 19.7 million offenses were recorded in 2018 by police services (excluding municipal police), gendarmerie and automated control, 18% less than in 2017 (24 million excluding non-parking infractions). paid become post-parking fee in 2018).
Blame for degraded radars
But this decrease in the number of offenses "can not mask a real increase in risk behavior , " said Road Safety in a statement. For her, "this mechanical drop" is mainly explained by the massive degradation suffered by the radars at the end of 2018 , especially in the context of the movement of yellow vests.
The speed camera controls resulted in 13.6 million speed violations in 2018 (-17.6% compared to 2017).
"Many vandalized radars, unable to produce offense messages, nevertheless continued to record vehicle speeds, thus noting the four-fold increase in the number of speeding violations in controlled areas, compared with the same period last year. preceding these massive degradations. The same phenomenon was observed by the radars still in operation, marked by a significant increase in speeding they recorded, " says Road Safety.
More road crimes
The authorities are also worried about the increase in traffic offenses (629,601, + 5.9%), the most serious offenses, for the fourth year in a row. Refusal to obey (38,087, + 36.3%), driving after drug use or refusal to submit to a test (63,369, + 29%) and the crime of escape after an accident (174,422, + 1.3%) are singled out.
A total of 14.9 million points were withdrawn from driving licenses in 2018 (-1.9%), mainly for speeding (9 909 451 points withdrawn, -6%), red light crossings (1 417 064 points, + 4.1%) and phone held in hand (1,046,176 points, + 11.1%).
Some 67,963 driver's licenses were invalidated for zero points, "a figure that has increased sharply since last year (+ 10.1%), while the previous five years were on the downside," says road. Nearly eight out of ten drivers (78%), however, have all of their 12 points, and 85% have ten points or more.
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The number of traffic offenses decreasing in 2018, but not dangerous behaviorOuest-France.frENLARGE
