Annual Road Safety report from 1970 to 1979

In 1970, there were 228,050 traffic accidents in mainland France. 15,036 people were killed within 6 days of their accident, including 3,202 pedestrians, 795 cyclists, 2,638 moped users, 306 motorcyclists, 7,523 motorists and 226 truck users. 1,262 children aged 14 or under died, 756 adolescents aged 15-17, 2,877 young people aged 18-24, 2,477 seniors aged 65 or over.

The most fatal year was 1972, with 16,545 killed within 6 days of the accident (an estimated 18,034 killed within 30 days of the accident).

In 1979, only 12,197 people were killed (within 6 days of their accident), including 1,381 moped riders but 970 motorcyclists.

The purpose of road safety reports is to make accidents known and to understand their components, in particular through thematic and transversal analyses. It is also a question of highlighting the major challenges of road safety.

The road safety policy is gradually being organized with the creation of an inter-ministerial mission in 1970, the inter-ministerial committee on road safety and the appointment of an inter-ministerial director in 1972.

In 1970, a first law made it mandatory to check blood alcohol levels after an offence or accident and set blood alcohol levels for drivers at 0.8g/l of blood for the contravention and 1.2/l for the offence. New vehicles are required to be equipped with 3-point belts at the front.

In 1972, the peak mortality rate was reached, with 16,545 deaths over 6 days, which is equivalent to more than 18,000 deaths over 30 days. This situation was denounced in 1973 by the 16,000 inhabitants of Mazamet lying on the ground.

This collective awareness allows the government to impose speed limits on the various road networks in 1973 and 1974, the wearing of seat belts in front seats outside urban areas in 1973 and in urban areas in 1975, and helmets for motorcyclists on all networks in 1973, for mopeds outside urban areas (1976) and on all networks on 1 January 1980.

During this decade, mortality fell by 30% for a traffic multiplied by 1.6. The number of people killed per billion km travelled increased from 81 to 43.