Road deaths up for 1st time since '01

FRANCE is set to announce its first increase in road deaths since 2001, after several years of record-breaking improvements to road safety.

Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve will reportedly reveal the disappointing figures for 2014 on Monday. The number of deaths last year will be up somewhere between 120 and 140 on the previous year.

In 2013, there were 3,268 people killed on French roads - the best-ever figure since stats were first compiled in 1947, and a saving of 403 lives on the 2012 figures.

Road deaths in France have been divided by five since 1973, when the figure stood at 18,000, with just a few exceptions to the downward trend, such as 2001 - and now 2014.

Chantal Perrichon, president of the Ligue Contre la Violence Routière, described this latest increase as "unacceptable".

New measures are expected to be announced on Monday relating to speeding and drink-driving.

The government is working towards a target of getting road deaths below the 2,000 mark by 2020.