launch of a campaign on the consequences of drug use while driving

Road Safety will launch an awareness campaign on Wednesday November 15 on the consequences of drug use while driving, a major factor in accidents on French roads, particularly among young drivers. According to official statistics, 672 people were killed in 2022 in a road accident involving a driver who had taken drugs, or one in five fatal accidents. In 91% of cases, the driver was a man and in 58% of cases, he was between 18 and 24 years old.

It is important “to recall that there is a high mortality associated with addictive behaviors, whether drugs or alcohol”Florence Guillaume, interministerial delegate for Road Safety, told AFP, specifying that the proportion of drivers testing positive after a fatal accident at night or on weekends rises to almost 30%.

An increase in controls

For the launch of this campaign, Florence Guillaume went to Fleury-Mérogis, to a road check, while the police increased drug checks with 764,331 screenings carried out in 2022, compared to slightly more than 630 000 in 2021. “It will still increase in 2023”specified Florence Guillaume, insisting on the “pedagogy” also linked to these screening checks for drivers.

The new campaign, which begins Wednesday in cinemas and Sunday on television, “metaphorically illustrates the loss of reflexes of a driver who has consumed drugs”explains Road Safety, sending the message that “drugs make you a danger to yourself and a danger to others”. In 2022, 3,260 people died on the roads of France.