After the highways, make way for the departmental roads.
To fight against hypovigilance, the main cause of frontal shocks on the roads of Essonne, the departmental council has just launched an experiment.
Since Thursday, the D116 which connects Ollainville to Breuillet has been equipped with an audible warning device.
Unlike highways, the rough stripes are black in color and are arranged on either side of the center line.
The choice of the D116 is no accident.
This section of several kilometers has been the scene of several fatal accidents in recent years.
The most recent, at the end of June, claimed the life of a 21-year-old motorist.
"Head-on collisions represent one in five accidents," specify the services of the department.
Almost 45% of them are linked to a loss of trajectory.
Between 2014 and 2018, 11 motorists died in a frontal impact.
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Save one to two lives per year
Drowsiness, a mobile phone while driving or a furtive glance towards the back seat are all examples that could lead to a defect in the trajectory. Tested between 2010 and 2015 as part of a French research program, this device, which became regulatory in January 2020, would allow the Essonne department to save one to two lives per year when around a hundred kilometers of road will be equipped. . "Placed on each side of the continuous line, the rough bands have the effect of moving vehicles away and offering the few extra tenths of a second that can save a life", details Michael Langlet, director of the infrastructure and roads to the departmental council.
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“It seems silly but this device is part of a much larger framework, adds the president of the departmental council, François Durovray (LR).
Our responsibility is to maintain the network to guarantee the safety of users, while having the concern to introduce innovation.
For the department of Essonne, this fight involves awareness-raising actions aimed at secondary school students, the granting of subsidies to prevention associations and the development of safety devices on the roads.
Already 27 dead on the roads of Essonne in 2021
Within two to three years, the 100 to 150 km targeted by the department should be reached. “This device costs between 2,000 euros and 4,000 euros per kilometer, detail the services. Each year, a budget of 150,000 euros per year, ie a total of between 300,000 euros and 450,000 euros over the target period, will be devoted to this. "
In the field, these soundtracks will primarily be installed in areas where side obstacles cannot be moved, removed or protected by a crash barrier, but also in particularly accident-prone areas and on long straights - such as the D838 between Limours and Dourdan - which favors the lack of vigilance.
“These are areas outside the built-up area,” says the department.
They are located more than 150 meters from homes so as not to create acoustic disturbance for residents.
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This year, from the beginning of January to the end of September, 27 people were killed on the roads of Essonne.
An increasing number, they were 24 in 2020 and 23 in 2019 at the same period.
Following the same rise, accidents and the number of injured are up 19% compared to last year.
Each year, the department devotes an envelope of 2.5 million euros to road safety.
