A total of 234 people died on the roads of mainland France in May 2023, a 19% drop compared to the same month of the previous year (289 deaths), Road Safety announced Thursday.
This sharp decline in road fatalities in May comes after falls of 13% in April and 14% in March. “In particular, a drop in the number of deaths in motorized two-wheeled vehicles (-46%), cyclists (-9 deaths) and pedestrians (-9 deaths) is noted,” detailed the National Interministerial Observatory for Road Safety (ONISR). in a press release.
Fewer injuries on the roads
The ONISR also records 1,449 serious injuries, 11% less than in May 2022. In total, the number of accidents with injuries registered by the police stood at 4,495 in May of this year.
In the last three months, the number of fatalities (648) has decreased by 16% and that of serious injuries (3,698) by 9% compared to the same period of the previous year, specifies the ONISR.
Road Safety confirms that people travel more by bicycle and scooter than before the confinement, which generates more accidents with these means of transport.
“Travel and accident rates have returned to a rate close to pre-pandemic or even higher, sometimes with changes linked to new habits,” he writes.
Mortality in EDPm and scooters on the rise
Thus, he points out that cyclist mortality is “much higher than that of 2019”, the last pre-pandemic year, with “214 cyclists killed in the last 12 months, that is, +14% compared to 2019”.
“Mortality in EDPm (motorized personal transport devices, scooter type) has increased considerably in the last 12 months,” adds Road Safety, with 33 people killed in the last year (+23 deaths).
Motorists represent, since the pandemic, slightly less than half of road deaths: 1,528 people have died by car in the last 12 months, compared to 1,622 in 2019. On the roads of the Overseas Territories, the figure rises in May 18 deaths (-36% compared to May 2022) and 361 injuries (+7%).
Source: BFM TV
