It happened at the beginning of December in Nanterre (92), on a straight 2×2 lane with a central divider, limited to 50 km/h. can you see me coming It is now 13:00, traffic is free, the weather is warm. There are no pedestrians on the horizon, eyes fixed on the road. In short, I am not dangerous to anyone. And yet I sinned: I forgot to fall before the holy radar; lean over the dashboard to check the speed. A grave error sanctioned by divine light (which I have not seen). Mea culpa: controlled at 56 km/h, speed maintained at 51 km/h. You tell me one Ave, three Pater, you prepare 90 euros and, with a little luck, you will be entitled to forgiveness from Darmanin if you waited until 2024 to put them in the trunk. Amen.

Once I confess, I should have a clear conscience. But no! The League Against Road Violence taught me through an interview with its Vice President Pierre Lagache on France Info that “Low speed kills. Studies show that speeding less than 10 km/h is the cause of half – about 46% – of serious accidents that lead to death. . What, like, half!? In order to calm my conscience, or on the contrary to flog myself for my 51 km/h, I have to understand this clearly…

photo: DR

What kind of “research” is this? After research, we only send the one that mentions this 46%. Ifsttar *, who in 2013 noted something like this: Between 2001 and 2010, the proportion of serious speeding incidents fell dramatically, especially between 2003 and 2007, while the number of minor speeding offenses declined more slowly. And to conclude that among fatal speeding accidents, “proportion […] due to speeding at low speeds increased from 16% in 2001 to 46% in 2010.. Ah, good! The nuance is important: therefore, as Mr. Lagash suggests, it is not half of fatal accidents, but 46% of those related to speeding… And he carefully does not specify that these data are almost fourteen years old. Knowing, finally, that it all remains approximately. Because, as our expert Antoine Jacot confirms, “when evaluating, the uncertainty of the speed at the time of the tragedy is about 10% (in some cases, the range is even indicated)”. So of course it won’t bring back the dead, but this update has the merit of getting the needle back in the middle of the meter again. And subverting the ways of a league that has no other purpose than to make us feel guilty. Wrong.

* French Institute of Science and Technology of Transport, Planning and Networks.

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