“Be the man you want to be, but be a living man”, proclaims the slogan of the new road safety campaign launched from Wednesday 8 February. The organization focuses this campaign on the mortality of men, who represent 78% of people killed in 2022 on the roads according to the road safety report. Road Safety makes the link between virility and risk-taking at the wheel and encourages caution.
On the road, 8 out of 10 deaths are men. Be the man you want to be but be a living man #Road safety pic.twitter.com/Ucevv2vENd
— Road Safety (@RoutePlusSure) February 6, 2023
“And if we had to add masculinity to the list of factors favoring road accidents?”, questions Road Safety. To justify the question “less provocative than it seems”, the organization highlights figures from the 2021 road safety report. Men represent 88% of young drivers killed, 84% of those presumed responsible for fatal accidents, and 93% of drunk drivers involved in an accident.
“Aggressive” even “a little vulgar”
For Adel, met at a gas station in the south of Paris on Monday February 6, arguments at the wheel are almost daily: “Just this morning! He was hanging out in front of me, I honked. He didn’t like…”
For Elisabeth, retired, driving is more and more difficult: “Being my age of 66, I have seen for years that men behind the wheel, even young now and aware of the problem, remain aggressive, even a little vulgar. Léon, he argues that men and women have “different logics“: “In terms of reflexes, to sneak in… Maybe we’re a little more nimble from time to time, while the women are maybe more cautious.”
Fouad, boss of a transport company in Seine-Saint-Denis, sees these differences in behavior every day. “I have about fifteen drivers, including three girls, he explains. And I’ve never had a problem with the girls because behind the wheel, they’re more focused! For example, one of my drivers has worked for me for fifteen years and I only had to change a bumper once.”
“My drivers, they have accidents every day: collisions, speeding. 90% of offenses are committed by men! Women, if it’s limited to 50 km/h, they will drive at 30 kph.”
Fouad
at franceinfo
“The drivers will take forbidden directions, never the women, finish Fouad. Same for height restrictions: they don’t go there, while men do, and they end up breaking. Despite the signs, I’ve definitely had convertible trucks!”
The education of boys is done in particular around the car
“Whether you’re 60 or 18, the stereotypes are the same, indicates for his part Alain Mergier, sociologist and one of the authors of the study which was used for this campaign. Education for boys is done, among other things, around the car. He has the feeling very quickly that he knows how to drive, that is to say to have good control of his car.
“It’s an important issue for boys to be recognized as someone who drives well. This self-confidence, ultimately, ends up putting them in danger.”
Alain Mergier
at franceinfo
For Road Safety, this campaign is a way of thinking about deconstructing these stereotypes from an early age in school, but also perhaps reviewing driving lessons in driving schools.
Road Safety points to behaviors associated with gender stereotypes such as resistance to being overtaken on the road, or minimizing the effects of alcohol on driving. These stereotypes “help to perpetuate the idea that men, unlike women, have some form of natural ability to drive”favoring risky behavior according to the organism. “The statistics remind us that this is not the case”, emphasizes Road Safety which insists: “There is an urgent need in the field of driving to free men from the social expectations that encourage them to associate masculinity with risk-taking.”
The new campaign uses a short video made up of images taken from a documentary by Rémi Bezançon. The director filmed the first moments between fathers and their sons in the delivery room, a way according to Road Safety to encourage men to “resisting social pressure, when everyone’s safety is at stake”. “You don’t have to follow what people expect from a man. Write the man you want to be”, encourages actor Pio Marmaï, the voice of the campaign. The video will be broadcast from Wednesday on television, on the internet and in cinemas.