Opposition grows over road speed reduction
In the face of protests involving tens of thousands of cars and motorbikes across France, a leading safety campaigner has vigorously defended the government plan to reduce speed limits on secondary roads from 90 to 80kph from July 1
Prof Claude Got, a retired surgeon who specialised in accident injuries and a former government advisor on safety, says it will reduce the death toll – which stood at 3,693 in 2017 – and save 400 lives.
Drivers’ groups do not agree. Led by 40 Millions d’Automobilistes, they say accidents are caused by driver behaviour, not speed. They point to the UK, which has a 97kph speed limit and where 1,720 people died on roads in 2017. The Sénat is opposed to a blanket reduction and instead wants departments to use accident history to decide local limits.
However, President Macron and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe stand firm, saying the cut will be reviewed after two years. It comes as the first speed trap cars run by private companies took to the roads in Normandy in April, a move which further angered driving groups who say that, as with the 80kph speed limit, it will serve only to increase state revenue from fines.
Prof Got said research showed 400 lives could be saved with an 80kph limit as it gave more time to react to unexpected situations, shorter braking distances and more chance of recovering control.
It was a misconception that rural trips would take much longer. “Drivers spend more time on the road in urban areas due to traffic jams. A half-hour trip to work can take twice as long if there is a jam, while in rural areas, traffic is much more fluid – yet people are upset cutting speed will cause them to spend two minutes longer in the car. “It makes no sense. I am confident people will see this and adapt, especially when the number of deaths falls.”
European figures show that 55% of fatal accidents happen on rural roads.
However, Pierre Chasseray, of driver group 40 Millions d’Automobilistes, said: “As your readers know, there are plenty of rural areas in the UK but its speed limit is 97kph and its road death toll is significantly less than in France. “In Germany it is 100kph and it also has fewer deaths; while in Denmark, when they raised the secondary road speed limit from 80kph to 90kph, the number of deaths dropped by 13%. “It is not by having cars go at 80kph that the number of road deaths will drop but by a change in driver behaviour.” If the government insisted on a speed cut it should start on narrow country roads with hardly space for two cars. Saying that wider roads were more dangerous “flies in the face of the experience of drivers who use these roads every day”.
However, Prof Got said comparisons with Germany and the UK do not compare like with like. “France is much less built-up than these two which obviously affects how people drive.”
He criticised the call for a limit only on narrow roads. “There are more deaths on well-maintained and wider secondary roads than on small ones. This is because they have more traffic. Mortality rates in rural areas are a function of traffic rather than road condition.” He said the anti-limit campaign was “a conjunction with those who simply like to speed, represented mainly by 40 Millions d’Automobilistes, and political forces, dominated by the Front National, who use it just to oppose the government. “The Front National has made fighting against speed cameras and limits one of its populist arguments for years.”
Mr Chasseray said the association’s main argument against the speed cut was that “it flies in the face of common sense” but he admitted being surprised by the depth of opposition. If the government persisted, it would use up its capital of political goodwill and, “obviously have political consequences,” probably as early as the European elections in 2019. “The message I hear over and over again from rural areas is that this is a measure imposed by a government in Paris which does not listen to the people. “Unfortunately, if this is pushed through, politically the only people who will benefit are the extremes. I hope the measure will not be implemented.”
Mr Chasseray said that using private firms to police roads in Normandy was a step too far for privatisation in France.
He told journalists: “This goes beyond the fact of whether you are for or against speed cameras; privatisation does not work. This enforcement should be the job of the police.”
He pointed to the recent law change on parking fines where a private company in Paris has been accused of breaking the law to artificially inflate the numbers of cars getting tickets. So far 5,000 drivers are to have their fines refunded.
