After the accident in which seven children on bicycles were seriously injured Wednesday morning in La Rochelle, many imagine that the age of the driver who drove the car that hit them, 83 years old, may have played a role. But we don’t know anything about it at the moment, and “you have to be careful”, indicates the general delegate of the Prévention Routière association, Anne Lavaud, guest of France Bleu La Rochelle this Thursday morning.
“Age is not an illness, you can drive safely whatever your agerecalls Anne Lavaud. Besides, you have to go among 18/24 year olds to find the same rate of drivers responsible for the accidents in which they are involved as among those aged 75 and over, that is to say 80%. For the rest of the population, 60% are involved in accidents. So, you see, age is not in question.” The police or those close to a person can already contact the prefect if they have doubts about their ability to drive, and the prefect then asks a specialized doctor to authorize or not to continue driving. .
The importance of reducing speed in the city
According to Catherine Leonidas, first deputy mayor of La Rochelle, the children were perfectly secure: helmets and yellow vests, supervised by two chaperones. The accident took place on a street limited to 30 km/h, as is now the case throughout the City of La Rochelle. And this may have played an important role in limiting the severity of the accident, estimates Anne Lavaud. “You know, it’s not trivial: undoubtedly if the road on which the accident took place had been at 50 km/h, we would be mourning the deaths compared to these children. Because in an accident at 30 km/h between a vehicle and a cyclist or a pedestrian, the risk of death is 10%. The same accident, at 50 km/h, the risk of being killed is 80%. And if we go down to 20 km/h, of course, we also reduce this risk of mortality.” specifies the general delegate of the Prévention Routière association.
Anne Lavaud calls for the creation of more meeting zones, limited to 20 km/h. Even if many motorists still have difficulty respecting these kinds of measures. “That’s always what we say: we say ‘let’s do nothing because people don’t respect the rules’. But it is obvious that if you have an agglomeration of 50, people will perhaps drive at 55 or 60. If the agglomeration is at 30, they will perhaps ride at 35 or 40. If we are at 20, they will perhaps drive at 25 or 30. So in any case, even if they do not respect the rule collectively, they will lower their speed. And then there is also the social view of others against these motorists who sometimes allow themselves to drive faster.”
