The number of road deaths jumped in March in mainland France compared to the same month last year but remains almost stable over the 12 months from April to March 2024 compared to the same previous period, according to estimates from Road Safety unveiled this Monday. In March, 254 people died on the roads, an increase of 31% compared to the same month last year.
For the period April 2023-March 2024, mortality “stabilizes with a slight increase of +1%” compared to the previous 12 months, according to details published in the evening by the National Interministerial Road Safety Observatory (ONISR) . With a total of 2,974 people killed on the road over this period, “it remains stable compared to the year 2019, the year taken as a reference for the decade 2020-2030”.
Back to 2019 figures
“The month of March was particularly mournful on our roads and the results for the first quarter bring us back to the figures for 2019,” commented Florence Guillaume, interministerial delegate for Road Safety, cited by ONISR. The figures for March 2023 were “particularly low”, with a decline of 14% compared to March 2022, ONISR said in the evening. ONISR also counted 1,164 serious injuries in March, an increase of 10%.
After a slight drop in the number of road deaths in 2023, road deaths started to rise again at the start of the year. After an increase of 6% in January, with 240 deaths recorded, the month of February also recorded an increase of 3%, with 224 people killed on the roads of mainland France. In March, Road Safety noted “a sharp increase” in the number of motorists killed last month (120, +29) compared to the same period last year, as well as an increase in motorized two-wheeler deaths. (60, +9) and cyclists (13, +5).
“This sharp increase mainly affects roads outside urban areas, concerns all ages and in particular young people aged 18-24 (40 killed or 23 more),” adds ONISR. Three users of motorized personal travel devices (EDPm), such as scooters, and 37 pedestrians also died on the roads in March. Conversely, for the month of March in Overseas the toll is down with 18 killed, a drop of 14% compared to March 2023.