A total of 591 people died on the roads of France during the months of July and August 2023, or 50 fewer than last year over the same period, Road Safety announced Thursday, a drop of 7.8 %.
The decline in road mortality is observed over each month. In August 2023, 286 people were killed on metropolitan roads, a decrease of 6% compared to the previous year, while in July, 305 people lost their lives, a decline of 10%.
According to provisional estimates from the National Interministerial Road Safety Observatory (ONISR), 32 pedestrians, 16 cyclists and 111 motorists died in August on the roads of France. Over the same period, 1,386 people were seriously injured, a decline of 4% compared to August 2022.
Two-wheelers strongly affected
Road Safety underlines “the high proportion of people killed on motorized two-wheelers (30% of deaths this summer)” and the increase in deaths on “motorized personal transport vehicles (EDPm)”, a category which includes electric scooters, “ with 17 killed in two months (the toll for the whole of 2022 is 35 dead).”
The organization also reminds that new regulatory measures concerning electric scooters came into force throughout France on September 1, 2023, including the increase in the minimum age for riding an electric scooter from 12 to 14 years and “the toughening of sanctions for risky behavior by users “.
In the overseas territories, the opposite trend is observed. The number of road accidents increased by 23% in August 2023 compared to the same period the previous year and 18 people died, an increase of 6% compared to August 2022.