Radars – Limitation to 80 km-h: Emmanuel Barbe fails to convince the Senate –

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Limitation to 80 km / h: Emmanuel Barbe fails to convince the Senate

Radars - 80 km-h limitation: Emmanuel Barbe fails to convince the Senate -

Heard by the committees of laws and spatial planning in the Senate on the real justifications for the limitation to 80 km / h, the interministerial delegate for road safety did not succeed in convincing the senators who have just created a group working… Explanations.

Wednesday morning at, Emmanuel Barbe tried to convince the senators of the merits of the from July 1, 2018. But it is clear that subjected to for more than an hour and a half, the interministerial delegate for road safety had hard to convince…

  • MNC special file : 

"If the Prime Minister took advantage of results he described as" scientific ", we would like – since they are" scientific "- to be able to share them with you, because naturally we could not fail to be convinced by "scientific" studies, announces the chairman of the law commission Philippe Bas (Manche, Les Republicains) in a very diplomatic preamble … but not without a point good ladle of irony !

Scientist, you said scientist ?

"We have some reasons to doubt it", adds the chairman of the regional planning commission Herve Maurey (Eure, centrist Union), "because we are not given for the moment the information allowing to support the merits of this decision "…

Radars - Limitation to 80 km-h: Emmanuel Barbe fails to convince the Senate -

Directly questioned on the lack of justifications for this limitation to 80 km / h, the interministerial delegate first recalled the other measures of the IRB of January 9 before asserting that "speed is the major factor in road safety and I don’t tell you speeding, I say speed "…

"When we do not know what to put on paper, we put speed"…

"The speed is the only causal factor of accident and I will reason by the absurdity: without speed no accident, it is obvious", continued Mr. Barbe by raising a bronca among his audience, however not composed ugly bearded motorcyclists but wise senators duly tied !

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"I’m tough, I’m used to difficult debates," warned the interministerial delegate who cited the deployment of to try to demonstrate that the drop in speed "mechanically" led to a drop in accidents: "on the network which will be targeted by the 80 km / h measure (national and departmental two-way roads without central separator, Editor’s note), between 2002 and 2005 we witness a decrease in the average speed practiced by 7%, and at the same time we are witnessing a decrease in mortality of 37% ".

"This experiment was not about accidentality"

"This experiment had only one goal: to measure the effect of the decrease in the maximum authorized speeds (MAS) on the average speed practiced, because the mechanical effect on the decrease in accidents has been demonstrated", continues Mr. Barbe. by estimating that "from this point of view it is a completely convincing experiment, since one notes speed reductions of 4 to 5 km / h on the zones which were the object of these experiments, and stronger again, reductions in the average speed of heavy goods vehicles which are already normally at 80 km / h and which have lowered their speed ".

"Just not relevant"

"The study by Cerema (Center for Studies and Expertise on Risks, the Environment, Mobility and Planning, Editor’s Note) did not relate to accidents because in accidentology, a period of two years over 80 km, it just has no relevance, "admitted the interministerial delegate. "What we found by doing a study that was complicated to do is that there is rather a favorable trend," he said very carefully….

"Mr. Delegate, you can tell us that but you cannot hide the study from us", replied Philippe Bas: "we will know, thanks to your pedagogy no doubt, to have the necessary discernment to understand the limits of exercise !"

Atmosphere … But beyond the "lack of acceptability" of this measure, quite rightly underlined by Michel Raison, the senator from Haute-Saône recalls – as we have known for 15 years – that: "on speed as a cause accidents, I interviewed gendarmes who told me: you know, when there is an accident and we don’t know what to put on paper, we speed up "…

  • MNC of January 21, 2003 :

Let us also note the intervention of Remy Pointerau, which painfully illustrates the gap which is widening from year to year between governments – whatever they are – and the "real" country: "on the ground, this measure is perceived by our fellow citizens as a punishment ", underlines the UMP senator from Cher, and it will" increase their feeling of abandonment and exasperation which will also be reflected in the ballot box, I would like to point out to you in passing "…

"Gather the necessary information"

"I am a biker, I ride a motorcycle every weekend in the Paris region", also recalled without however succeeding in convincing the senators – nor to provide them with the results of the experiment – since at the end of this hearing, "the two committees created a joint working group on road safety composed of three members: Michel Raison (Haute-Saône, Les Republicains), Michèle Vullien (Rhône, Union centiste) and Jean-Luc Fichet (Finistère) , Socialist and Republican) ".

  • 80 km / h :

The Senate specifies that "this working group has been tasked with conducting preparatory hearings for the holding of a round table on road safety open to all senators".

"It is a question of gathering the elements of information necessary to evaluate, without a priori, the usefulness for the fight against road insecurity of a reduction to 80 km / h of the maximum speed authorized on certain roads", underline Philippe Bas and Herve Maurey adding that they "are still waiting to know the results and the scientific value of the studies and the experimentation that we have requested by mail to the Prime Minister from Thursday January 11"…

"You will have lied to the French"…

Moreover, "if it were necessary, the commissions could request the prerogatives of a commission of inquiry to obtain communication of these documents. Road safety is an essential issue, which deserves more than the effects of announcement", warn the senators…

"If at the end of this debate, the French imagine that it is simply by going slower that they will participate in safer traffic, you will have lied to them", for his part summarized Jean-Yves Leconte, senator (socialist) representing the French living outside France, stressing that "the most important thing is attention".

Visibly unwilling to speak with journalists after his hearing, Emmanuel Barbe put on his hat before quickly walking away … in the middle of a question! To follow on the Motorcycle Journal of the Net: stay connected…

Video: Hearing of Emmanuel Barbe in the Senate on January 24, 2018

Eric MICHEL

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