On France's roads last month 253 people died in traffic accidents. A number of factors have been called into account: weather; increase in cycling; destruction of speed cameras; ignoring the 80kph limit etc.
Deaths were also up 3.7% in January and some commentators have suggested a general laxity in observing what are elsewhere considered as reasonable security measures. Many speed cameras were covered up, preventing them from taking pictures, but still recording speeds, giving a 268% increase in infractions.
The very fine weather in February may have led to increase in traffic, especially motorbikes and cyclists (of whom 18 met their death).
A final suggestion regarding motorists' disregard of road safety is the need to redeploy traffic police to controlling demonstrations rather than controlling traffic.
