Fewer deaths on French roads but fines rise

It comes as controversy is brewing in the south over a permanent reduction from 110 to 90kph on a busy 20km stretch of the A8 motorway.

July’s reduction in deaths (19 less than July 2017 making 344 in total) was accompanied by a significant reduction in serious injuries, with 11% fewer than July 2017. However deaths also reduced year-on-year in May and June (by 8% and 9%) after the launch of a raft of measures prioritising safety following three years of rising mortality.

Officials said that a hike in fines linked to the new limits on secondary roads will subside once people get used to them.

Meanwhile the government is in a dispute over limits on the motorway between Nice Saint-Isidore and Antibes. It asked Escota, the Vinci Autoroutes subsidiary which manages the A8, to install signs whose wording can be changed at a distance so as to display temporary speed reductions at busy times but Escota said it would have to put up the tolls to pay for it.

The state is now threatening to enforce a permanent reduction to 90kph, possibly from this autumn, and the president of the Alpes-Maritimes council said that if it happens Escota should be forced to make the stretch free of charge.

However Nice mayor Christian Estrosi said a speed reduction was unacceptable as it would increase journey times.