France has a population of 65.9 million inhabitants, living in very different populated areas: more than 10 million are living in highly dense urban areas, whereas many others are living in very rural areas where travel by road is a critical part of their daily life. In an area slightly smaller than Texas (268,596 sq. mi.), France (248,573 sq. mi.) counts around 1.1 million kilometers (around 685,000 miles) of road network; more than 1 million kilometers encompass the secondary road network outside highways and the national road network. Around 58 percent of France’s road fatalities in 2023 occurred on this secondary road network¹.

On highways, the speed limit for light vehicles is set at 80 mph (130 km/h), reduced to 68 mph (110 km/h) in case of rain. On major national roads with two lanes for each direction and a physical separation (median) between the two directions, the maximal speed is set at 68 mph (110 km/h). Outside urban areas, on roads with one lane for each direction, the general speed limit is set at 50 mph (80 km/h) with local exceptions for 56 mph (90 km/h). In urban areas, the speed limit is set at 31 mph (50 km/h), and cities have the possibility to set the speed limit at 18 mph (30 km/h), as is the case for densely used narrow streets in the center of Paris, for example.

Around 48 million vehicles are registered in France—38 million cars, 6.2 million utility vehicles, 3 million motorcycles, and 700,000 trucks. In addition to the traffic of these vehicles, France has to address important commercial transit between northern and southern Europe, as well as an important transit for tourism, especially in the summer.

Directorate for Road Safety at the Ministry of Interior

The road safety policy is designed by the Delegation for Road Safety, which was a directorate of the Ministry of Transport before joining the Ministry of Interior in 2012. Gendarmerie General Florence Guillaume is the interministerial delegate for road safety and leads this directorate. This interministerial function enables the directorate to have excellent working partnerships with the different ministries that are involved in the road safety policy, such as the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Education, to list only the most involved. Around 200 people are working within this directorate, divided into three subdirectorates, two divisions, and one observatory—the Subdirectorate for Road Users manages the vehicle registration database and designs the main regulations for road safety; the Subdirectorate for Road Education manages the driver’s license database, designs the road education (both in the regular schooling in France and also for the theoretical and practical training and examinations for driver’s licenses), and employs the driver’s license examiners; the Subdirectorate for Transverse Questions and Resources manages the human resources policy of the delegation and leads the local network for road safety. The Division for Automated Enforcement designs the rules for automated speed and crossing controls and organizes venders for the implementation and maintenance of the devices. The Communication and Information Division designs the different communication and awareness campaigns that are broadcast on TV, in movie theaters before the motion pictures, on the radio, and on posters in the subway and at bus stops. Finally, the National Interministerial Observatory for Road Safety gathers the road traffic crash data from security forces, establishes a cutting-edge yearly road safety review, and leads many research and study projects to continuously improve the road safety policy.

The Delegation for Road Safety translates national policy into regional policy via its decentralized network and agents in each prefecture (local administration of the Ministry of Interior). In this way, in France, around 2,000 people for the government are working every day on road safety, not to mention the related work by law enforcement and legal proceedings.

Public Policy for Road Safety in France Before 2023

The long-term improvement in road safety in France is the result of a combined proactive action in design, maintenance, and operation of infrastructure; passive and active safety of vehicles; the education, prevention, and enforcement of road user behavior; and post-crash care improvement.

After the World War II, the expansion of the car fleet, the inadequate road network, and insufficient training of drivers led to a massive increase in road crashes. The crash data collection system, which was made reliable in 1954, recorded more than 7,000 road fatalities. Between 1960 and 1970, road fatalities increased by 56 percent as traffic more than doubled. However, during this period, road fatalities per million kilometers traveled decreased from 111 to 81¹.

Between 1970 and 1980, the interministerial road safety committee was created with the appointment of an interministerial delegate (see sidebar). In 1972, the peak of 18,000 road fatalities was reached. In 1973, the 16,000 inhabitants of the French Mazamet city decided to launch a collective awareness action by laying down on the street. This event was shown on TV and in different newspapers, thereby helping the government to impose mandatory use of safety belts for front occupants and helmets for all motorcyclists. During this period, the road fatalities decreased by 30 percent while the traffic increased by 1.6 times.

Between 1980 and 1990, the blood alcohol limit was lowered from 0.12 percent (1.2 g/L) blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 percent (0.8g/L), and the local road safety policy was implemented with district plans. The construction of roundabouts to replace hot spot crossroads significantly reduced the road fatalities, as did the mandatory regular vehicle technical assessment introduced in 1985. Mandatory use of child restraint systems and the immediate withdrawal of drivers’ licenses in cases of drunk driving were introduced in 1986. The number of road fatalities decreased by 20 percent, while the traffic increased by 140 percent.

French Penalty Point Driver’s License

In 1992, the French government introduced the penalty point–based driver’s license for all drivers with two principles. First, each driver’s license has a credit of 12 points, and these points are withdrawn accordingly to road traffic offenses. Second, the points are attached to the driver’s license and not to a specific category, so that, for example, a driver losing points by committing a road traffic offense with a motorcycle, loses the points for all types of vehicles that the person is licensed to drive.

Two mechanisms enable drivers to regain the points that have been lost. Either the driver can attend a specific two-day refresher course in a driving school, which costs around €250, enabling him to gain a maximum of four points (limited to once per year); or the driver can recover the points withdrawn by refraining from committing any offense during a period that increases with the number of points lost.

For example, if drivers runnung a red light, will have to pay a fine and four points will be withdrawn from their driver’s license. The driver can either attend a refresher course to regain the four points, or they can challenge themselves to commit no road traffic offense for three years. If the driver commits a new road traffic offense during these three years, they will have to wait three years after that new road traffic offense to regain their four points (not to mention pay the penalty for this new offense). This mechanism enables each driver to choose between changing their driving behavior or attending a refresher course.

Since 2004, drivers obtaining a first driver’s license for motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses are considered to be novice drivers for three years after completion of the practical examination. During the first year, the novice driver will have a driver’s license with only six points, and two more points will be credited each year of the probationary period to get a full driving license of twelve points at the end of the three-year period. However, with six points during the first year, if there is only one high-point road traffic offense such as drunk driving, the novice driver’s license will be revoked.

A white paper on road safety issued in France in 1989 proposed different improvements for public policy and outlined the need to improve enforcement. Therefore, between 1990 and 2000, the speed limit in urban areas was set to 50 km/h (30 mph), and the BAC limit was reduced to 0.05 percent. During this period, the penalty point–based driver’s license was also introduced. Most of the motorway network was completed, and vehicles were progressively equipped with airbags. In addition, the use of seat belts for all vehicle occupants was made mandatory. Last, a continuous training in road safety was introduced throughout the school curriculum. The road fatalities decreased by 20 percent even though traffic increased by 20 percent.

Progressivity of Road Traffic Offenses In France, all road traffic offenses are legal proceedings, except the fine for unpaid parking, which is an administrative fine because of its lack of influence on road safety. The road traffic offenses are organized as a progressive process, so that the higher the impact of the offense on road safety, the higher the number of points withdrawn and the higher the amount of the fine. For example, Table 1 shows the nature of the road traffic offense in the left column, then, from left to right, the corresponding points that will be withdrawn; the maximum financial penalty that a judge can set, especially in case of an appeal; and the fixed fine amount in case the offender proceeds to a quick payment (within one month) of the fine. The payment of the fixed fine is considered as a recognition of responsibility by committing the road traffic offense and ends the legal proceedings. Once the fixed fine is paid, an appeal is no longer possible.

Table 1: Offenses and Corresponding Penalties:

Infringement	Points deducted	Financial penalty (maximum)	Fixed fine
Speeding < 5 km/h above the speed limit	0	750€	68€ or 135€
Speeding ⩾ 5 km/h and less than 20 km/h	1	750€	68€ or 135€
Speeding ⩾ 20 km/h and less than 30 km/h	2	750€	135€
Speeding ⩾ 30 km/h and less than 40 km/h	3	750€	135€
Speeding ⩾ 40 km/h and less than 50 km/h	4	750€	135€
Speeding ⩾ 50 km/h	6	1500€ (3000€ for relapse)	Not applicable
Traffic light crossing (running a red light)	4	750€	135€

At the beginning of Jacques Chirac’s second term as president of the French Republic in 2002, he listed road safety among his four priorities. Enforcement was significantly improved with the progressive development of fixed automated speed cameras. For novice drivers, a probationary driver’s license with six points was introduced in 2004, and the consequence for exceeding the legal BAC limit was increased to six penalty points for all drivers. With less than 5,000 road fatalities in 2006, and a 51 percent reduction in road fatalities during the decade, more than 30,000 lives were saved during this period.

Since 2010, road safety remains one of the major public policies in France, which took up the United Nations goal of the first decade of action (2010–2020) to halve the road fatalities during this period, aiming to be below 2,000 fatalities in 2020. However, the road fatalities increased between 2014 and 2015 and were stable in 2016 and 2017. With the acceleration of the aging of the population since 2010, the share of senior drivers in the road fatalities is constantly increasing, while the excess risk for 18–24 years old is decreasing more than that of other adults.

French Automated Offense Enforcement

In the late 1990s, the French government implemented new laws to enable the use of automated enforcement devices. The first automated speeding measurement devices were installed in 2003, and automated red light and railroad crossings were installed in 2008. Road section automated speed cameras for measuring the average speed of vehicles over a given distance were implemented in 2012, and movable speed cameras were installed in 2016.

The automated cameras are strictly regulated by law, so they are limited to 4,600 devices in France that have to be calibrated to be approved and to ensure that every detected vehicle is indeed committing a road traffic offense. The authoritative findings of the automated enforcement devices are sent to a central processing agency (ANTAI, in Rennes, Britanny) that works on reading the license plates, validating the infringement by police officers and gendarmerie who draw up the offense report. Then the traffic offense notice is sent to the owner of the vehicle, who is obliged, by law, to either recognize the road traffic offense if they were driving the vehicle or give the details of the person who was driving the vehicle at the time of the offense. In the latter case, a new road traffic offense notice will be sent to the presumed driver and the same process applies. Of course, there are options to declare that the vehicle has been stolen or that there is a misuse of the vehicle registration plate. Thanks to the European regulations, the agency can also read the vehicle registration database of the 26 other European Union Member States, and send the road traffic offense to vehicle owners from those member countries.

More than 17 million road traffic offenses are sent each year by this agency. A payment rate of more than 80 percent is mainly due to a fixed fine procedure that enables a lower fee in return for a quick payment. Since all road traffic offenses in France are legal proceedings, if a driver challenges a road traffic offense notice, they will have to pay up to 10 times more than the fixed fine.

Of course, for most of the offenses recorded by automated enforcement devices, the infringement includes a loss of points from the driving license. The combination of automated enforcement devices with the penalty point driver’s license enables a graduated management of infringements and ensures that all drivers are equally treated— even the wealthiest drivers who can afford multiple road traffic fines also lose points on their driver’s licenses.

Road Safety Challenges for 2023–2030

The most important decisions on road safety are discussed in the National Council for Road Safety, which brings together all the main stakeholders in road safety: representatives from different ministries, from major industry associations (transport, education, cabs, etc.), road users (cyclists, car and motorcycle drivers, pedestrians), academics, and physicians. The decisions are also prepared in the Higher Council for Road Education, which brings together representatives from different ministries as well as from the major road education industry (driving schools) and road users to discuss new perspectives for road education.

Every three to five years, this work is then proposed by the delegation for road safety for approval by the Interministerial Committee on Road Safety, chaired by the prime minister and bringing together the different ministers (justice, health, education, transport, interior). In order to take advantage of the switch of some mobility modes originating from the COVID-19 period, the last Interministerial Committee on Road Safety meeting was held on July 17, 2023, and approved 38 measures organized in seven priorities:

1. Improving education about shared road use: Introduce a cycling module in secondary schooling, make the driving license process less expensive, and provide the opportunity for lifelong learning on road transport.
2. Enhancing the detection, assessment, and monitoring of unfit drivers: Enhance the detection of hazardous behavior and improve the process of driver medical assessment.
3. Protecting vulnerable road users and helping victims: Improve the network of major facilities, implement consultation for cargo bikes, impose an 18 mph (30 km/h) speed limit on urban roads without footpaths, and conduct research on ways to protect roadside workers.
4. Working to ensure safety of all road users: Educate users on the correct use of edge lane roads, support actions of associations at the local level, and encourage the promotion of occupational road safety.
5. Combating the most hazardous behaviors: Reinforce the penalties for driving under the influence, reinforce targeted mandatory use of breath alcohol ignition interlock devices, criminalize excessive speeding, criminalize driver misidentification by the vehicle owner when an offense is committed.
6. Simplifying life for road users: Untangle the digital process for vehicle registration, simplify the digital consultation of the driver’s license number of points by the driver, and introduce mobile driver’s licenses and digital vehicle insurance stickers.
7. Taking action to improve road safety in overseas territories and regions: Adapt communication to local communities and challenges, create new local partnerships, enhance enforcement, and improve post-crash care.

For the first time in many years, France counted 3,167 road fatalities in 2023, which is 4.3 percent lower than the road fatalities of 2022. The figure from 2023 corresponds to 48 road fatalities per million inhabitants, which is the best rate since 2010 without taking into account the pandemic-impacted years of 2020 and 2021. France had the 16th best road safety performance in Europe in 2023. Since 2010, road fatalities in France have dropped by 20.5 percent; however, road injuries were reduced only by 17 percent¹.

In 2023, 59 percent of road fatalities occurred on rural roads and individuals in the 14–18 and 24–34 age groups have a higher fatality rate than other road users. About 48 percent of road fatalities are car occupants, 22 percent are motorbike drivers (less than 2 percent of road traffic in France), 14 percent are pedestrians, and 7 percent are cyclists. The main factors contributing to road fatalities in 2023 were speeding (28 percent of fatalities), distraction (12 percent), and drug use or having a fainting spell (11 percent). Despite the 7.5 million alcohol and drug tests done by law enforcement in 2023, alcohol was a main factor for 22 percent of road fatalities. In a nutshell, 40 percent of all road fatalities in 2023 occurred with at least one driver either drunk, under influence of narcotics, or both.

Conclusion

Implementing an efficient road safety policy takes time and requires strong political support, and France is honored to share its experience with partners from all over the world and to take part in the management of the United Nations Road Safety Fund. However, the development of road safety policy in France shows that the next challenges are mainly related to the users’ behavior (e.g., use of mobile phones, transgressive behavior, aggressiveness); the use of new drug forms potentially impairing driving (e.g., edibles); and the technical evolution of transport modes (e.g., automated and autonomous driving, driver assistance systems). In order to facilitate this huge amount of work, the French road safety delegation is closely involved in the international works of the European Union and of the United Nations Global Forum for Road Traffic Safety. At an informal working level, the delegation for road safety is also involved in the work of the road safety committee established within Francopol.

A lot of work is still to be done, and the United Nations ministerial meeting in 2025 in Morocco has clearly shed a new light on world leaders’ common commitment to continuously and quickly improve road safety for all users. d

Florence GUILLAUME, a Major General in the Gendarmerie Nationale, has been the Interministerial Delegate for Road Safety since September 2022. With 25 years of experience in operational command, central administration, and ministerial cabinets, she is a graduate of the Saint-Cyr military academy and holds a Master I in political and social communication from Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. Her career includes commanding various gendarmerie units, serving as a press officer, assistant to the Director General of the Gendarmerie Nationale, and advisor in ministerial cabinets. She is also a graduate of the Ecole de guerre and has attended several high-level military and public service courses. Major General GUILLAUME is a Knight of the Legion of Honor and an Officer of the National Order of Merit.

Note:

¹ Observatoire National Interministériel de la Sécurité Routière. “Bilan de la Sécurité Routière 2023.” September 12, 2024. https://www.onisr.securite-routiere.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/2024-09/Bilan%20SR%202023%20version%20site%20internet%2012%20septembre.pdf.

Please cite as

Florence GUILLAUME, “France’s Step-by-Step Road Safety Policy,” Police Chief Online, March 26, 2025.

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