In January 2022, 260 fatalities occurred on the roads of mainland France and 24 overseas.
Warning: the health crisis linked to Covid-19 has led the government to take exceptional measures to restrict trips and activities. Since March 2020, the evolution of road traffic accidents reflects the variety of measures and the way French people have adapted their mobility according to the periods. In January 2022, working from home is strongly recommended in metropolitan France and there are no travel restrictions.
Road accident indicators have shown very atypical trends since March 2020, so comparisons are also made with the year 2019 and even with previous years. Specific insights are provided during the quarterly dashboards since the June 2020 dashboard.
Mainland
260 people were killed on the roads in mainland France in January 2022, compared with 180 in January 2021, i.e. 80 more people killed. This result is up compared to January 2019 (21 more people killed, i.e. +9%) and also compared to the average for January 2015-2019 (+6%).
The number of injury accidents recorded by police forces was 3,728 in January 2022, higher than last year's result (3,508 accidents, that is to say 220 more injury accidents than in January 2021) but lower than January 2019's result (3,977 accidents, that is to say 249 fewer injury accidents and a decrease of -6%).
4,623 people were injured in January 2022, a result +7% higher than January 2021 and -7% lower than January 2019: there were 4,312 injured in January 2021 and 4,959 injured in January 2019.
Travel in January 2022 was higher than in January 2021 (around +10% on average compared to January 2021, according to the Cerema traffic dataviz). Thus, the results concerning road accidents reflect the resumption of French mobility, with mortality even higher than in January before the pandemic.
* Cumulative 12 months from February 2021 to January 2022, Cumulative 12 months from February 2020 to January 2021, cumulative January to December 2019 (base year)
Data source : ONISR - Data on injury accidents recorded by police forces - Geographical area : France mainland
Labelled series (final until 2020, near final 2021), 2022 estimate based on data as of 08/02/2022
2021 road fatalities by transport mode, age, and road network
In January 2022, no measures restricting the mobility of French people were in place in metropolitan France, whereas in January 2021 a curfew was in place. Fatalities in January 2022 is thus much higher than that recorded in January 2021, but remains similar to the average of the last 5 years before the pandemic.
Pedestrian fatalities in January 2022 are double those recorded in January 2021 and higher than in January 2019. Thus, 57 pedestrians were killed in January 2022, 29 more than in January 2021 and 8 more than in January 2019. Pedestrian fatalities for this January 2022 are one of the highest in January over the past 10 years.
Cyclist fatalities for January 2022, with 15 cyclists killed, are similar with January 2021 but higher than January 2019 or January over the past 10 years.
Motorcyclist fatalities, with 17 fatalities, are below the level observed in January 2021 and before the pandemic.
Car users fatalities are higher than in January 2021 and January 2019: 145 car users were killed in January 2022 compared with 88 in January 2021 (57 more fatalities) and 139 in January 2019 (6 more fatalities). Car users fatalities in January 2022 were relatively equivalent to the average for January in the 5 pre-pandemic years.
9 children or teenagers were killed on the roads in January 2022, which is significantly higher than January 2021 and significantly lower than January 2019.
38 young people aged 18-24 were killed on the roads in January 2022, 5 more than in January 2021 and 7 more than in January 2019; but this is still close to the average for January in the 5 pre-pandemic years.
85 seniors aged 65 or over were killed on the roads in January 2022, a number of fatalities which is higher than in January 2021 (26 more fatalities) and than in January before the pandemic (14 more fatalities on average).
In urban areas, fatalities are higher than in January 2021 with 18 more fatalities but is the same as in January 2019. On rural roads, fatalities are significantly higher than in January 2021, with 54 more fatalities, and equivalent to January before the pandemic (4 more fatalities on average).
* Cumulative 12 months from February 2021 to January 2022, Cumulative 12 months from February 2020 to January 2021, cumulative January to December 2019 (base year)
ns: non-significant change
Data source : ONISR - Data on injury accidents recorded by police forces - Geographical area : France mainland
Labelled series (final until 2020, near final 2021), 2022 estimate based on data as of 08/02/2022
Development of the number of users fatalities cumulated on a rolling 12 months
The health crisis has deeply affected trips since March 2020, for all users, but to varying degrees depending on the alternation of restrictions and authorized movements. Even if the pandemic is still active, trips and accident rates are returning to near pre-pandemic levels, sometimes with changes linked to new habits.
Car users usually account for half of the road deaths. Their fatalities over the last 12 months is estimated at 1,468 fatalities compared to 1,622 for the entire year of 2019, which represent a decrease of -9% over just over two years.
Pedestrian fatalities also fell sharply over this period: an estimated 445 pedestrians were killed in the last 12 months, compared with 483 for the entire year of 2019, which means a drop of -8%.
The fatalities of powered two-wheeler over the past 12 months are still lower than in 2019, but the decline is less important than the one observed in 2020. Motorcyclist fatalities are reduced by -8% with 567 fatalities in the last 12 months compared to 615 fatalities in 2019. The sharp decline in moped rider fatalities has continued over these last 12 months, -29% compared to 2019 with 95 moped rider fatalities these last 12 months compared to 134 in 2019; a decline that affects all age groups.
Fatalities among young adults aged 18-24, at high risk of serious road accidents, have decreased by -6% in the last 12 months compared to 2019 (514 people killed compared to 549 in 2019), a trend that continues for the first half of 2021 with curfew measures and the closure of some festive places and that is now tending to reduce.
Compared to other trends, cyclist fatalities over the last 12 months are higher than in 2019: 228 cyclists were killed in the last 12 months, +22% compared to 2019. Indeed, despite that the trips have been limited by the measures related to the health crisis, the French have shown a preference for using individual means of transport for short trips rather than public transport in towns, but also have developed leisure cycling in rural areas.
Finally, the number of fatalities among heavy goods vehicle users rose sharply at the end of the year. It is up by +36% compared to 2019 but remains similar to the average of the years 2015-2019.
Data source : ONISR - Data on injury accidents recorded by police forces - Geographical area : France mainland
Labelled series (final until 2020, near-final 2021), 2022 estimate based on data as of 08/02/2022
Evolution of people injured over the last 12 months according to their transport mode
Warning: The number of people injured in road traffic accidents as recorded by the police forces is under-represented. Injured people, particularly those on e-scooters, bicycles or motorbikes, contact the emergency services directly or go to health facilities on their own, or even return home, without the police forces being aware of this.
The volumes of injuries recorded by the police forces are therefore very volatile over a given month or since the beginning of the year, and it was therefore decided to display the trends for the current month and the cumulative total since January, compared with 2021 and 2019. Only the rolling 12-months totals are displayed in relative terms compared to 2019, which is taken as the reference year for the decade.
In urban areas, the evolution of people injured on e-scooters increases strongly compared to 2019, as this mode of travel has grown. In the last 12 months, compared to 2019, the number of injured cyclists has increased by 15%, while the number of injured pedestrians and motorcyclists has decreased by 16%.
In rural areas, the biggest increase in injuries over the last 12 months compared to 2019 is for cyclists, with +23%. The trend in injuries to powered two-wheelers is up in 2022 compared to 2019. The trend for people injured in passenger cars or heavy goods vehicles is down compared to 2019.
ns: non-significant change
Data source : ONISR - Data on injury accidents recorded by police forces - Geographical area : France mainland
Labelled series (dfinal until 2020, near final 2021), 2022 provisional data as of 08/02/2022
Overseas
In January 2022, the road safety indicators for french overseas are higher than in January 2021 for fatalities, higher than in January 2019:
- 227 injury accidents compared to 257 injury accidents;
- 286 injured compared 345 injured;
- 24 fatalities compared to 23 fatalities.
* Cumulative 12 months from February 2021 to January 2022, cumulative 12 months from February 2020 to January 2021, cumulative January to December 2019 (base year)
ns: non-significant change
Data relating to injury accidents recorded by the police - Geographic scope: DOM + COM + New Caledonia
Source: ONISR - definitive data until 2020, quasi-definitive data 2021, provisional data 2022 stopped on 08/02/2022
