Road safety: “worrying increase” of cyclists mortality

The mortality of cyclists increased by 30 % between 2019 and 2022, according to estimates of the interministerial national observatory of road safety (ONISR).

MO12345LEMONDE with AFP

A “worrying increase” of the mortality of cyclists was observed last year in France, deplored Wednesday 1 February the interministerial delegate for road safety, Florence Guillaume, during the Presentation of the 2022 assessment.

With 3,260 deaths on the roads of mainland France, the balance sheet remains generally stable (+ 0.5 %) compared to 2019, last year of reference before the pandemic, but it increases by 30 % among cyclists, with 244 killed, or 57 more, according to estimates of the interministerial national observatory for road safety (Onisr) presented at a press conference at Cochin Hospital in Paris. For the second year in a row, the number of cyclists killed exceeded the threshold of 200.

“Less than 50 % of killed on the road are car occupants. Unfortunately, and this goes hand in hand with the development of soft mobility, there is a worrying increase in the mortality of cyclists and users of machinery Motorized personal displacements (EDPM) “, recalled M me Guillaume.

Regarding EDPM, 34 “Trottinettes” lost their lives, against 10 in 2019, with 600 seriously injured, 400 more than three years earlier.

For motorists, road mortality is decreasing with 1,563 killed (-59) just like that of motorized two-wheelers with 715 deaths (-34), according to onisr figures. In the overseas territories, 281 people died on the roads, an assessment up 11 % compared to 2019 (+ 27 killed).

/Media reports cited above.