This was one of the expected effects of confinement: road safety figures experienced a historic decline with the implementation of the very first confinement last year. While so-called braking measures were put in place at the beginning of April, the figures communicated by the National Interministerial Observatory for Road Safety (ONISR) for March 2021 invariably show an increase.
In a France partly reconfigured in March, “183 people died on the roads in March 2021, in mainland France. This figure was 152 in March 2020, but it was then the first month impacted by the traffic restrictions linked to the first confinement. Thus, if there were, in March 2021, 31 more people killed (+20%) compared to 2020, there were 72 fewer than in March 2019 (-28%), a less atypical month. and more conducive to comparison”, underlines the press release from the Ministry of the Interior. This drop is largely explained by the curfew, the 10 km limitation as well as the incentive to telework.
Last month, 86 motorists, 46 motorized two-wheelers, 16 cyclists and 18 pedestrians were killed on the roads.
The comparison with the figures from the previous year is no longer considered representative enough, the month of March 2020 having been marked by strict confinement, and an unprecedented drop in traffic. One year later and despite current restrictions, Road Safety estimates the drop in traffic in March 10 at only 2021%. “compared to the period preceding the first confinement”.
Over the entire first quarter of 2021 (much less subject to this base effect with the period of the pandemic), road mortality is down 17% compared to 2020 (529 killed compared to 636, 107 fewer) and 29% compared to 2019 (748 killed, or 219 fewer). “The decline mainly concerns motorists and pedestrians, while motorcyclist and cyclist mortality is only slightly down”, underlines the press release.
