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Road safety: why are French roads poorly maintained?
Road safety: why are French roads poorly maintained?
(France 2)
In France, 30% of fatal accidents are linked to damaged roads. Faced with this observation, several motorist associations are sounding the alarm.
Sailly-sur-la-Lys (Pas-de-Calais) is one of the villages in Fran where the roads are particularly damaged. Work is planned, but drivers are angry. “We have to slow down, be careful”, underlines a motorist. Potholes also litter certain highways, such as the A15, in Val-d’Oise. A motorcyclist says two of his tires exploded because of these holes in the road.
30% of fatal accidents
The intense rains followed by frost caused the bitumen to burst and the repair work is very complicated. “Setting up a major repair operation takes about a month to schedule a closure to have the companies capable of intervening”, specifies Thomas Walliser, head of management and operations at DIRIF. In France, the state of the roads plays a role in 30% of fatal accidents, but it is the sole cause in only 1% of cases.
