Skip to main content

French speed cameras prevented 15,000 fatal road crashes in 7 years, study claims

The installation of speed cameras in France prevented around 15,000 fatal and 62,000 non-fatal road accidents between November 2003 and December 2010, according to a study in the international review Accident Analysis and Prevention. The mortality rate per 100,000 vehicles is said to have fallen 42% from 1.86 in November 2003 to 1.07 in October 2010. A second study found that speed cameras were most effective at reducing excessive speed infractions (more than 20km/h over the limit) and moderate speed infrac
April 8, 2013 Read time: 1 min
The installation of speed cameras in France prevented around 15,000 fatal and 62,000 non-fatal road accidents between November 2003 and December 2010, according to a study in the international review Accident Analysis and Prevention. The mortality rate per 100,000 vehicles is said to have fallen 42% from 1.86 in November 2003 to 1.07 in October 2010.

A second study found that speed cameras were most effective at reducing excessive speed infractions (more than 20km/h over the limit) and moderate speed infractions (between 10 and 20km/h over the limit), with the percentage of fatal accidents falling from 25% to 6% and 13% to 9% respectively between 2001 and 2010. The number of minor speed infractions (less than 10km/h over the limit) remained stable, but the percentage of fatal accidents rose from 7% to 13%.

Related Content

  • Lower speed limits help to boost road safety
    February 24, 2025
    Research shows that lower speed limits help to boost road safety.
  • Road safety improvement for the US
    December 11, 2012
    The US is seeing improvements in road safety overall, with a drop in road crash statistics for 2011. The data for 2011 is encouraging and the US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released a new analysis indicating that highway deaths fell to 32,367 in 2011. This marked the lowest level of road related fatalities since 1949, 1.9% decrease from the previous year. Furthermore, this updated 2011 data show the historic downward trend in recent years continu
  • Single vehicle crash risk too high in Europe
    July 13, 2017
    Research shows that single vehicle crashes (SVCs) are a serious problem for road users in Europe. According to crash analysis, around 7300 road users in the EU were killed during 2015 in SVCs. The data also shows that around 94,800 people were killed in SVCs in the EU over the last 10 years.
  • Indonesian Government to enforce motorcycle speed limits?
    May 28, 2014
    In a bid to reduce Indonesia’s high death toll of motorcyclists in road accidents, the country’s government is looking into the feasibility of setting a speed limit for motorcycles. Government officials have sought advice from the International Motorcycle Manufacturers Association (IMMA), with the latest Indonesian National Police's statistics showing that motorcyclists accounted for 64% of the over 100,000 road accidents recorded in 2013. A feasibility study is expected to be launched by the end of 2014,