In 2021, 131 people were killed on the motorway network, i.e. 4 more than during the year 2020 marked by confinement but 23 less than in 2019, the last reference year.
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Safer highways. The number of people killed on the motorway in 2021 experienced its lowest level for 20 years, according to the annual report of the Association of French Motorway Companies (ASFA) published on Wednesday July 27. In 2021, 131 people were killed on the motorway network, 4 more than in 2020 marked by confinement, but 23 less than in 2019, the reference year before the Covid-19 pandemic .
Compared to traffic, last year is the least deadly year, for twenty years, “with 1.2 accidents per billion km traveled”, assures this report. More generally, mortality in 2021 linked to road insecurity in France had fallen by 9% compared to 2019.
The consumption of alcohol, drugs and medication while driving appears between 2017 and 2021 as the leading factor in fatal accidents (23%) ahead of drowsiness and fatigue (20%), speed (18%) and distractions , like the telephone, (13%). The intervention teams were victims of 126 accidents in 2021 during which four employees were killed and 12 injured.
But 2022 got off to a bad start, with 75 people killed on the highways as of June 1, an increase of 46% over one year, explains Christophe Boutin, ASFA’s general delegate. These figures match those of the entire road network in France, which also recorded a lowest in 2021 with 2,944 deaths.