Key reports

This page presents some of the Major Public Reports commissioned by the government or Parliament that have been produced over the past 30 years.

These reports address either the road safety policy as a whole or specific themes with a high road safety stake (controlling speed with automated control, high-risk users such as motorised two-wheelers, vulnerable users such as seniors, etc.).

1989 - La sécurité routière : livre blanc présenté au Premier ministre

(Road safety: white paper presented to the Prime Minister.)

Pierre GIRAUDET, Chairman of the Road Safety Commission.
At the Inter-ministerial Committee on Road Safety meeting on 27 October 1988, the government decided to appoint Pierre Giraudet, President of the Fondation de France, to chair a committee responsible for proposing any measure likely to improve road safety. The latter has drawn up a White Paper. After analysing the situation, both in its technical and cultural aspects, the report highlights the current contradiction between the aspirations of the social body towards the automobile and the rules of collective life necessary for the organisation of mass traffic. Addressing both decision-makers and the general public, the report demonstrates the need for "peaceful and civilised conduct" in our modern societies.

1994 - Vitesse et sécurité routière : rapport au Premier ministre

(Speed and road safety: report to the Prime Minister)

Robert NAMIAS, FRANCE. Prime Minister.
Proposals to improve the effectiveness of the speed limit system on roads: simplify regulations by keeping only 3 categories of speed limit (130 km/h on motorways, 90 on roads, 50 in cities), increase radar controls.

1998 - Pour une sécurité routière plus citoyenne

(For a more socially responsible road safety)

Report to the Minister of Equipment, Transport and Housing

Isabelle MASSIN, FRANCE. Ministry of Equipment, Transport and Housing.
With an important objective of reducing the number of road deaths, the report recommends a series of measures to develop a more citizen-friendly road safety policy, focusing on four main areas: placing road safety at the heart of concerns such as civic responsibility, social cohesion, sustainable development and renewed public action, basing actions on shared knowledge, setting an example for State action in its field of competence, and developing road safety partnerships at local and national level.

2002 - Sécurité routière : développer la recherche pour sauver des vies

(Road safety: developing research to save lives.)

Information report prepared on behalf of the Finance, Budgetary Control and Economic Accounts Committee of the Nation on road safety research (Senate Reports, No. 29)
Gérard MIQUEL, FRANCE. Senate. Committee on Finance, Budgetary Control and Economic Accounts of the Nation.
The report reviews the actors and challenges of road safety research: research axes, research centres (INRETS, LCPC, SETRA, CERTU, university research, private manufacturers), public sponsors. It presents national and European research programmes and human and financial resources. It inventories the results and shortcomings of road safety research (dissemination, legislation, commercial impact) and proposes to redirect public RH research: better define priorities, produce more reliable statistics, orient research towards human behaviour, reduce "grey areas" (pedestrians, motorcyclists, accidents in rural areas), develop public policy evaluation.

2002 - Gisements de sécurité routière

(Road safety opportunities)

Régis GUYOT, FRANCE. Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport, Housing, Tourism and the Sea. Research and Scientific Affairs Directorate. Paris: la Documentation française, 2002.
Work of a multidisciplinary team which, after an overview of past developments and their perspective in the French travel system, analysed the multitude of accident situations to detect "priority sources" of road safety: improve infrastructure, enforcement chain, multi-activity in the vehicle, alertness disorders, weekend accidents, black days and rainy weather, daytime running lights, special risk users (pedestrians, motorcycles, inexperienced drivers, work-related accidents), and disparity in safety levels.

2003 - Contrôle Sanction Automatisé - Rapport de la Mission interministérielle

(Automated Sanction Control - Report of the Interministerial Mission)

Jacques SICHERMAN, Raphaël BARTOLT, Hervé GUILLOU, Patrick POIRRET, FRANCE. Ministry of Equipment, Transport, Housing, Tourism and the Sea, FRANCE. Ministry of the Interior, Internal Security and Local Freedoms, FRANCE. Ministry of Justice, FRANCE. Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry. 2003
This report describes all the reflections, studies and actions of the inter-ministerial mission "automated sanction control". It assesses the legal certainty required with regard to automation processes, the structure of the management and information system, the sites to be chosen for the location of the equipment, the service providers to be mobilized, the financing of the project and communication as well as the long-term management of the project. Many appendices complete the report.

2008 - Gisements de sécurité routière : les deux-roues motorisés

(Road safety opportunities : powered two-wheelers)

Régis GUYOT, FRANCE. Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Planning. Direction de la sécurité et de la circulation routières (DSCR). Paris: la Documentation française, 2008.
Starting from the dual observation that today one in four people killed in road accidents is a motorcyclist and that the number of serious injuries, mopeds or motorcyclists is now higher than that of motorists, the prefect Régis GUYOT, who is particularly experienced in road safety, was asked to convene a working group, this time to focus his reflection on the following areas: the development of automated enforcement, improved detectability, reduction of over-vulnerability, interventions on road infrastructure and treatment of fixed obstacles outside urban areas.

2010 - Vieillir partout en sécurité : l'affaire de tous - Rapport au premier Ministre

(Safe ageing everywhere: everyone's business - Report to the Prime Minister)

Edouard COURTIAL, FRANCE.

The ageing population will impact all public policies. The document proposes a comprehensive government action plan to be put in place to address future challenges.

2012 - Mission d'information relative à l'analyse des causes des accidents de la circulation et à la prévention routière

(Fact-finding mission on analysing road accidents causes and developing road prevention)

Armand JUNG and Philippe HOUILLON, National Assembly, FRANCE.

Many hearings were conducted as part of this mission, which notes that after years of progress, road safety seems to be on the decline. The main conclusion is to reactivate the "Parliament of Road Safety" (CNSR) to continue the work in a shared way between the actors.

2015 - Femmes et automobiles

(women and cars)

Chantal JOUANNO, Senate, FRANCE.

The Delegation for Equality between Women and Men explores the differences in the ratio of travel and accident patterns by gender. Women are less likely to be victims of road accidents than men. However, men are more often the perpetrators of road accidents. Inequality in access to driving licences remains, with girls failing the practical test more often than their male colleagues.