Former French president, Jacques Chirac, dies

The news that former French president, Jacques Chirac, has died aged 86 should be of note for those in the road safety sector. His political legacy is well known. Chirac was prime minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and again from 1986 to 1988, mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995 and finally president from 1995 to 2007. But his political reputation ended under a cloud following his suspended sentence on corruption charges. Perhaps less well widely known however is that Chirac had a tremendously beneficial e
September 26, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
The news that former French president, Jacques Chirac, has died aged 86 should be of note for those in the road safety sector.


His political legacy is well known. Chirac was prime minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and again from 1986 to 1988, mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995 and finally president from 1995 to 2007. But his political reputation ended under a cloud following his suspended sentence on corruption charges.

Perhaps less well widely known however is that Chirac had a tremendously beneficial effect on road safety in France. Chirac was injured in a road crash in 1978 and that inspired him to institute a tough line on enforcement of laws against drinking and driving and speeding in particular. French laws had previously been lax on these, with the result that the country’s annual road casualty rate was shockingly high. Chirac’s tough line on road safety started in 2002, resulting in the French police cracking down hard on drinking and driving and speeding. The result was that France’s annual road casualty rate fell dramatically and has remained much lower ever since.

It is worth noting that that there are many French people today living healthy lives, who perhaps would not have been but for Chirac’s actions. No other European politician has ever saved so many people from death or injury on the roads. Perhaps this was not the legacy Chirac set out to achieve when he entered politics, but it is one that deserves much credit.

Related Content

  • UAE road safety progressing, but major work still to be done
    April 25, 2012
    Road safety in the UAE is progressing at a faster rate than many other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, but still has major milestones to achieve before it can sit among the countries in the world with lowest fatality rates, according to a road safety expert who will address the Gulf Traffic Conference, taking place from 12-13 December 2011 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.
    Read More
  • Vietnam lowers accident tally for number of people injured yearly
    August 9, 2016
    The number of people injured in traffic accidents in Vietnam fell by 1,360 from a year ago to 10,286 in the first seven months of 2016. However, around 2.5% of Vietnam’s GDP is lost each year because of traffic accidents, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee. An average of 60 people are injured and 24 people die daily due to road accidents. Also, The number of traffic accidents declined by 1,058 to 11,852 cases while the number of deaths decreased by 144 to 5,023. In May, the comm
    Read More
  • Time to position H4b as standard central reservation restraint systems
    March 22, 2017
    Safety restraints have come a long way in the past 20 years. But perfection has its drawbacks, notes Thomas Edl, head of barrier manufacturer Delta Bloc. In Europe, establishing regulations for construction and testing of road restraints has been complex. But the journey has been worthwhile in terms of lives saved, says Thomas Edl, managing director of Delta Bloc International, based in Vienna. The European Commission looked at this and decided that there should be regulations to make it an even playing fie
    Read More
  • Indonesia’s Trans-Sumatra highway inches ahead
    March 11, 2015
    Indonesia will form a consortium of state enterprises to build all the 2,700km of the Trans-Sumatra toll highway, from Lampung to Aceh on the island of Sumatra. The finance department is also setting up special infrastructure banks to provide flexible loans for the state departments to fund the project, Indonesian media reported. Indonesia recently changed the law that had the state infrastructure company PT Hutama Karya as the only organisation allowed to build major projects. Other state enterprises can n
    Read More

Highlighted Content