The number of people who died in October on the roads of mainland France increased by 15% compared to the same month in 2019, the reference year before the pandemic, Road Safety said on Tuesday, November 15.
In detail, 295 people died in one month, more than half of them outside the urban area.
Among them, 122 were motorists, 58 pedestrians, 34 cyclists.
This figure is down very slightly compared to the same period in 2021 (298 dead) but up compared to 2019 (257), details in a press release the National Interministerial Observatory for Road Safety (ONISR).
Reduction in bodily accidents
The number of injury accidents recorded by the police and gendarmes, which constitute only a part of road traffic accidents, on the contrary recorded a drop to 4,720, i.e. 868 less than in October 2021 and 415 fewer than in 2019. The authorities had taken exceptional measures in the spring of 2020 in response to the spread of Covid-2019, temporarily reducing travel and encouraging telework.
"
Even if the pandemic is still active, travel and accident rates are returning to a rate close to that before the pandemic or even higher, with sometimes changes linked to new habits
", notes the ONISR.
In this regard, he notes “
a craze for the use of individual modes of transport on short journeys in town
”, and for “
leisure cycling in rural areas
”.
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Travel during the month of October 2022 was slightly higher than during the same period in 2021 (just under +5% on average compared to October 2021).
“
This slight upward trend is similar whether during the week or on weekends
,” notes ONISR.
In the overseas territories, 33 people died in a road accident last month, eight more than in 2021 over the same period and ten compared to 2019. The number of injury accidents recorded by law enforcement also stands at 269, up from 244 in October 2021 and 259 in 2019.
