Road safety policy

The objective of a road safety policy is to reduce the number of road traffic injury accidents, in order to reduce the number of people killed and injured each year.

It meets several challenges :

  •  a human issue related to the suffering caused by the loss or disability of a loved one, given that in France for every person killed on the roads, an estimated 7 are seriously injured;
  •  a social issue linked to the disappearance of part of the living forces of society, particularly young people;
  •  an economic challenge, the total cost of French road safety being estimated at 50.2 billion euros in 2022, or 1.9% of GDP (an estimate by the French road safety observatory). Each year, the Government spends more than €3.4 billion on road safety policy.

It mobilizes multiple stakeholders, institutional or private.

At the national level, within the Government, this policy is highly inter-ministerial (transport, justice, health, work, education, etc.). At the local level, in addition to the action of local government representatives, the action of local authorities, in particular county councils, municipalities and conurbations, is just as decisive in their capacity as road managers, producers of urban travel plans and road master plans and, more generally, developers.

Private actors such as insurers, car manufacturers, companies and associations for road prevention or road users associations complete this plurality of stakeholders in road safety policy.

The French road safety policy has made it possible, since the post-war period, to substantially reduce the number of road deaths :  from 18,000 deaths in the early 1970s to 8,000 deaths in 2000, then 4,000 deaths in 2010, and 3,267 in 2022 despite an increase in traffic in recent decades.

road safety policy

Road Safety history

From the post-war period to the present day, around 700,000 people have been killed on French roads.



The improvement of road safety results from action taken on three...

Road Safety management in France

Road safety, a public policy, involves every community, company or citizen.


French Research strategy

Road safety research is an essential element for progress in the fight against accidents. The challenge is to understand the complex mechanisms of the accident and the...

Call for research projects



The Road Safety Directorate (DSR) organizes, between 2023 and 2027, an annual session of calls for projects aimed at all scientific...

Highway code

The Highway Code gathers regulations and laws that govern travel on road space.



Whether on roads or highways outside urban areas, streets or boulevards within urban...

The experts committee

2024-2026 mandate: the call for candidates is now closed



The French Road Safety Delegation launched a call for candidates...

Interministerial road safety committees

This page presents the press kits from the Interministerial Road Safety Committees (CISR) over the last 30 years.



These decision-making bodies, chaired by the Prime...