There are still too many accidents but it is clear that the road is safer today even though car traffic has increased sharply in recent decades. In Ille-et-Vilaine, road mortality has thus been halved in twenty years according to the “Operation and road safety” report presented Thursday at the session of the departmental council.
Last year, 40 people lost their lives in a road accident in the department, compared to 82 killed in 2001. If we look even further, the drop is even more significant since 174 deaths were recorded in Ille- et-Vilaine in 1981, i.e. a number of road deaths which has been divided by four in forty years in the department.
More accidents involving cyclists
Unsurprisingly, this downward trend is also found in the number of bodily accidents which has been halved in twenty years in the department (778 in 2021, against 1,421 in 2001).
With the development of the use of bicycles, cyclists are on the other hand more exposed to accidents than in the past. 141 bodily accidents involving cyclists were recorded in Ille-et-Vilaine last year, ie 30 more than in 2001.