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France may have had a change of President this weekend but the latest figures released by Sécurité Routière point to outgoing President Sarkozy's government measures on road safety having a degree of success. Sécurité Routière is part of the French Ministry of the Interior and has responsibility for road safety in France.

In April 2012, 280 people died on roads in France compared with 360 for the same month in 2011. The drop corresponds to a decline of 22.2% with a saving of 80 lives.

Both the numbers of accidents causing serious injuries and the numbers of persons seriously injured also dropped sharply on a year on year basis. The number of those seriously injured on French roads in April 2011, was 7229, whereas the figure for April 2012 was 5552, a drop of 23.2%. The figure for accidents causing serious injury fell 22.5% from 5725 in April 2011 to 4437 in April 2012.

Sécurité Routière reports that in the first four months of the year compared to the same period in 2011, the decline in road deaths in France was 16.1%, equivalent to 202 lives saved. The twelve-month rolling period (May 2011-April 2012) also showed a continued improvement with 3765 people killed on French roads in the past 12 months, down from the comparative figure of 3800 for the previous year, a fall of 8.7%.

The figures were released before a series of national holidays in France when French roads are much busier. Sécurité Routière has called on all drivers to be particularly vigilant over the holiday periods.

Related:

Travelling to France | Update on obligatory in-car breathalysers | NF approved breathalysers for French roads

Driving to Pays de La Loire, General Motoring Advice for French Roads

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