2023-04-20 18:40:54
“It’s a paradigm shift! “For Pierre Chasseray, general delegate of the association “40 million motorists”, it is almost a historic day. After the compulsory wearing of the seat belt, the license point, the radars or the limitation to 80 km / h on the roads, “for the first time” a government eases its foot on the measures imposed on drivers, according to him. From the beginning of 2024, minor speeding will no longer be penalized by a deduction of points, as is currently the case.
This announcement, made by Gérald Darmanin on the occasion of a letter to Senator LR of Var Françoise Dumont, will only concern excesses “less than 5 km / h”. A way “to introduce administrative indulgence with regard to these shortcomings which are more a matter of lack of attention than of the deliberate desire to free ourselves from the rule”, justifies the Minister of the Interior. In 2020, of the 12.5 million tickets sent for speeding checked by radar, 58% concerned excesses of less than 5 km / h, according to the letter from Gérald Darmanin. Doesn’t a weaker sanction risk leading to a relaxation of users?
License with small points
Pierre Lagache, vice-president of the League against road violence, sees this as a “worrying signal, because the government agrees to use road safety for communication purposes, in a tense social context”. “We must not confuse a measure to decriminalize the driver with a measure of common sense for responsible drivers”, moderates Pierre Chasserey. On the same line as the Minister of the Interior, he is pleased to see these “involuntary” excesses dissociated “from excesses up to 20 km / h”. But for Pierre Lagache, the argument does not hold. “When we say that people can no longer work because of the penalty points, I want to see the figures. Only 7% of drivers were involved in a points recovery course last year, ”he asserts.
Worse, the end of this sanction amounts, according to him, to letting “users at risk drive longer” because they will “lose their license less quickly”. Pierre Chasseray, he would even like to go further and regrets that “the amount of the fine is not reduced to 22 euros”. Always with the idea of putting in a “different category” the involuntary excesses of the most important excesses. The reasoning is reversed with Pierre Lagache. “There is a social aspect to the withdrawal of points” which puts everyone on an equal footing, he explains, “compared to the fine” that the richest can easily pay. “It’s a project to weaken the license points”, tackles the association manager.
At 50 km/h, the survival rate of a pedestrian is only 20%
But beyond the sanction against the drivers, this decision has a road safety issue, on which two camps are also opposed. “If it ended in accidents, the ministry will turn around, but that’s not what will happen,” preaches Pierre Chasseray. For “40 million motorists”, releasing the pressure on drivers will not encourage them to play with the limits any more. But a few kilometers per hour can sometimes change everything. “Studies show that 46% of serious accidents are caused by speeding less than 10 km/h”, notes the vice-president of the League against road violence.
In town, the 50 km/h limit is also a tipping point for pedestrians and cyclists: according to the WHO, the survival rate of a pedestrian hit at the speed limit is already only 20 %, compared to 60% at 40 km/h. But with the new rule, and knowing that 5 km / h are always removed from the speed observed when drawing up a ticket, motorists could drive at 60 km / h in town without fear of losing a point. At this speed, the survival rate of a pedestrian is almost nil. “A real road safety policy”, sighs Pierre Lagache.
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