The day after the tragic road accident which cost the lives of three people, Saturday December 21, 2024 in the early evening in Mazières-en-Gâtine on the Niort-Parthenay axis (D743), one of the hypotheses responsible for such drama was quickly lifted. The speed of the two vehicles involved, with two people in one car and a single driver in the other, was immediately ruled out. The vehicles were traveling below the authorized limit, investigators quickly learned, the car speedometers having stuck at the speed recorded at the time of the violent head-on collision.
Two Niortais, one Gâtinaise
Among the three people killed, the couple resided in Niort, the man being 70 years old and his wife 65 years old (Editor's note: and not 76 and 75 years old as initially indicated on site). As for the driver alone in her car, aged 80, she lived in Lhoumois, between Parthenay and Airvaudais.
While initial analyzes are underway, many questions remain about the circumstances of this tragic road accident. The cars collided head-on as one of them arrived 200 meters from the end of its two-lane section, in the Parthenay-Niort direction, the other car in front traveling in the opposite direction on a section reduced to one lane at this location, with the continuous line between the two directions of traffic, at the sign indicating Parthenay at 13 km.
Discomfort linked to the light between dog and wolf at this time (4:50 p.m.), avoidance of an obstacle, discomfort, slipping on wet asphalt… A number of hypotheses can be put forward at this stage of the investigation. In any case, on the side of the Parthenay gendarmerie company, this Sunday, December 22 in the morning, we were already planning to launch a call for witnesses shortly.
Sinister year the roads of Gâtine
This new road tragedy increases an already tragic death toll in this year 2024 in Gâtine. Where the final toll for 2023 had reported one death on the territory of the Parthenay gendarmerie company, that of this year 2024 which is ending is now seven people killed.
Incomprehension may legitimately be in order when we know that local gendarmes have increased their presence on public roads by 20 to 30% in 2024 compared to the previous year, with increased surveillance in terms of road safety which will take place. also results in more checks and fines. More precise figures are expected in Pompaire, at the beginning of 2025, during the announced annual inspection of the community of brigades (Cob) of the Parthenay gendarmerie.
Still questions about the D743
The big black spot of this year 2024 was undoubtedly this D743 which links Niort to Parthenay and which always raises questions in the light of these tragedies. Four of the seven people killed on the roads in Gâtine this year were in accidents located on this departmental axis.
10 km from the terrible accident of this Saturday, December 21, 2024 at “La Grande Roullière” in Mazières-en-Gâtine, a 93-year-old elder had already lost her life on April 9, 2024 near the town of Tallud. In this previous head-on collision between two cars, three people were also involved, two of them aged 83 and 72 were transported injured, in relative emergency, to Niort hospital.
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