The losing trifecta has changed. It is no longer alcohol, but connected objects that are considered the most deadly on the road. Speed comes in 3e position, according to the 4e European barometer established by the Ipsos Institute for the Vinci Autoroutes Foundation. 12,000 Europeans from eleven countries were questioned about their driving habits.
It is therefore inattention at the wheel that is massively denounced. “All the studies carried out for several years reveal, in fact, that we take our eyes off the road more and more often to send emails, answer text messages, program our GPS”, recalls Angélique Négroni in Le Figaro.
A death trap, say 75% of the Dutch and more than 50% of the French. However, this awareness does not translate to driving. A quarter of Europeans deal with messages, a third (39%) configure their GPS or telephone without a hands-free kit (32%).
The barometer also mentions other offenses committed on the road. Starting with the seat belt. One in five Europeans fails to use it even though it is involved in one in five deaths on the road. Then come the national specificities. If the Swedes concede their pronounced taste for speed (93%), if the Italians forget the indicator (60%), the French, them, admit not to respect the safety distances (76%).
Moreover, according to the daily, our country remains “a mediocre student” in the European Union in terms of road safety. The mortality rate there is 54 per million inhabitants compared to 50 in the EU.
Originally published on April 7, 2017
