Phone, read or send messages while driving, a practice that has become ultra-majority among French motorists, so much so that 8 out of 10 drivers say they do it regularly. This is the record figure, and rising sharply, established by the annual barometer “Prevention of behavior on the road”, published on Tuesday by Axa.
“Worrying” figures, up very sharply
The increase is 11 points compared to 2021, where this figure already reached 69%. In 2004, before the appearance of smartphones, less than a quarter (22%) of motorists said they drove behind the wheel.
In details, 52% call (+8 points), an action that quadruples the risk of an accident according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 34% consult or send a message (+10 points), an action that multiplies the risk by 34 according to a 2009 American study. These figures are “worrying”, underlines to AFP Eric Lemaire, the president of the association Axa Prévention.
Regarding the speed, 72% of motorists (+ 9 pts) say they drive at a speed between between 40 or 50 km/h in areas limited to 30 km/h in town, increasingly widespread, and 32% (+ 5 pts) to more than 65 km/h in the city.
Nearly three out of four cyclists use their phone while on their journey
The president of the Axa Prévention association is also alarmed that the biggest increase is for cyclists : they are now nearly three out of four (72%) to use their phone while riding their bike (+14 points). 2021 was a dark year for cyclists in terms of road safety, since the number of deaths (226) jumped 21% compared to 2019, before the pandemic, in a context of changing travel habits.
But the behavior of cyclists varies greatly depending on whether they only use their own bike or those offered in self-service. While holding your phone in your hand and wearing earphones or headphones is prohibited, bike “owners” have much less dangerous behaviors than “renters”: for example, only 17% of the former consult or send a message, compared to 73% for users of self-service bicycles. The delta between the two categories is 50 to 60 points for all uses of the phone, such as setting the GPS (20%/80%).
Eric Lemaire attempts an explanation: “When you use your own bike, you usually know where you’re going, for example to get from home to work. When you take a self-service bike, you can look at the journey, where the station is the closest…”
The figures for this survey were collected online, from January 10 to 25, from 2,253 French people.