After the death of a cyclist in Paris, a study denounces the dangerous behavior of motorists

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The death of Paul Varry, hit and then crushed by a motorist on Boulevard Malesherbes (8th), raises questions. To account for the dangerous behavior of road users in cities, particularly in Paris, the OpinionWay institute carried out observations for the MMA insurance company.

The attitude of 9,000 vehicles was studied in five French cities (Paris, Lyon, Rennes, Montpellier and Metz) for 30 hours at three intersections and at different times of the day. Result: one in twenty drivers exhibits dangerous behavior, revealed our colleagues from France Inter and Parisian this Thursday October 17, 2024.

In most cases, men are behind the wheel

Among the most frequent violations, failure to respect the traffic light. In 59% of cases, drivers commit this transgression. Stopping in the middle of a pedestrian crossing occurs in 18% of situations and speeding concerns 12% of the offense rate.

This study also shows that violations of the highway code are carried out by men in the majority of cases (64%). “This is unfortunately quite consistent with road mortality since 78% of people who die on the road today are men,” notes Guillaume Wirth, responsible for road risk prevention at MMA.

“Rise of violence”

For his part, the Paris police prefect pointed out the “rise in violence [routières, ndlr]sometimes for reasons that are extremely futile.” Invited on the BFMTV set on Thursday October 17, 2024, Laurent Nunez felt, however, that he did not “draw any conclusions about the use of public roads in Paris”.

According to him, the number of accidents and injuries involving vulnerable users is “declining since the start of the year, from -4% to -26% depending on the category”.

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