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France shows improving road safety while Germany sees decline

A very different road safety picture is emerging in two European nations, France and Germany. In France, the road fatality rate fell 4.7% for the month of June 2012, compared with the same period in the previous year. Some 320 people were killed on French roads in June 2012. In May 2012, the road death rate in France was only 0.9% lower than for the same period in the previous year. But in April 2012 the road death rate dropped 22.2% compared with 2011, 9% in March and 25.3% in February.
July 12, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A very different road safety picture is emerging in two European nations, France and Germany. In France, the road fatality rate fell 4.7% for the month of June 2012, compared with the same period in the previous year. Some 320 people were killed on French roads in June 2012. In May 2012, the road death rate in France was only 0.9% lower than for the same period in the previous year. But in April 2012 the road death rate dropped 22.2% compared with 2011, 9% in March and 25.3% in February. Over the first six months of 2012, the number of people killed on French roads was down 11.5%. In June 2012, the number of personal accidents reached 5,642, down 1.4% year-on-year, and the number of injuries was 7,053, down 1.6%. The number of people hospitalised, however, rose by 5.3%.

Meanwhile in Germany, the numbers of people killed in road traffic accidents grew 9.9% in 2011. The data was released by Germany's Federal Statistics Office, 5143 Destatis, and shows that the number of people who died in road traffic in Germany increased by 9.9% to 4,009 in 2011 compared to 2010. Of key concern is that data shows those who died in alcohol-related accidents increased by 17% to 400. However, the overall number of road traffic accidents registered by the police decreased by 2.1% to 2.36 million in 2011 compared to 2010.

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