Road safety – 12.5% ​​drop in the number of motorcycle fatalities in 2006 –

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12.5% ​​drop in the number of motorcycle fatalities in 2006

Road safety - 12.5% ​​drop in the number of motorcycle fatalities in 2006 -

The 2006 provisional road safety report shows a significant drop in the number of fatalities in two-wheelers with 770 fatalities in 2006 against 881 in 2005. The Minister nevertheless continues to point the finger at them and calls for ever more severity….

When you don’t quite know what to say, say bad things about two-wheelers … This could be the motto of the Minister of Transport, who yesterday presented the provisional road safety report 2006 (the final figures will only be known spring, but the margin of error is "less than 0.5%", assures the government).

Obviously little concerned by the subject, Dominique Perben first asserted, as an automatic, that the situation of two-wheelers was "not satisfactory"and that they should therefore be subject to"first priority site" in 2007 : "it is not acceptable that a French biker is twice as likely to be killed on the road as a German biker (where the power is not limited to 100 hp and where the speed is free on certain portions of highways, Editor’s note) : one in six fatalities is a two-wheeler user, whereas they represent only one in 120 users", said the minister.

Mr. Perben nevertheless half-acknowledged the lack of interest in this observation, specifying that "of course, this is also an effect of not protecting"of a user of two-wheelers compared to a motorist in his car.

But it was only after conscientiously pointing fingers at bikers and scooter users that the Minister of Transport finally admitted – lip service! – than "data improved somewhat in 2006, with 770 fatalities in two-wheelers compared to 881 in 2005".

That is to say a significant drop of -12.5% ​​in one year, all the more considerable since at the same time, sales of two-wheelers (all displacements combined) exploded by + 16.7% !

The decreases in the number of fatalities are "high for motorcyclists", is content to note the National Interministerial Road Safety Observatory, specifying that it was"up by 1.3% in 2005 compared to 2004", while "results are stable for mopeds"(after an increase of 3.8% in 2005).

Asked by Moto-Net about the content of his "first priority site"targeting two-wheelers without even taking into account this important improvement, the minister once again recited the eternal speech based on"method of organizing the road network which is not always suitable for two-wheelers" and of "new generation of radars that will allow better speed control "by flashing from the back…

The new interministerial delegate, Cecile Petit (read), confirmed this orientation by indicating that she was going in turn "start a dialogue with biker associations", because "there is a misunderstanding between two-wheelers and motorists, especially in urban areas".

"In our future communication campaigns, this dimension of two-wheelers must be more planned", also added the minister by setting himself as objective for 2007 that the number of killed with two-wheelers passes"below 500" !

Finally, questioned by Moto-Net on the figures themselves – and in particular on the question of why the government did not communicate on the number of accidents -, Dominique Perben suddenly saw his language transform into a Norman cabinet of very good size. , considering after a few moments of reflection that "what matters is the variation of the numbers, no matter which numbers you take"…

Either … But it only prevents to be credible by denouncing "the unsatisfactory situation of two-wheelers"compared to other categories of users, it would still be interesting to communicate precisely on the number of accidents involving them.

A new "priority site" for Cecile Petit? Because because of the lack of protection inherent in two-wheelers and which will have escaped no one – not even the Minister! -, it is indeed obvious that with an equal number of accidents, the number of deaths will be fatally higher on a two-wheeler than in a car with bodywork, airbag and ABS….

Eric MICHEL

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