soon a new sticker for senior motorists?

THE Road safety figures for the year 2023 – published on May 31 – are encouraging. Indeed, according to the government, these are in all and for all 3,398 people died on the roads of mainland France and overseas last year. “This result is -4.3% lower compared to 2022 and -2.9% lower than 2019, the reference year for the 2020-2030 decade”, we stipulate, before providing some details concerning the circumstances in which these deaths occurred, and which type of motorist was more or less concerned. We thus learn that “the share of men in road deaths” stay “predominant” and that among young people aged 14-17, 116 had died. It is “an increasing balance sheet which reaches a high level compared to previous years”we specify in the middle of a flood of trends.

The figures are stable or decreasing for the number of road deaths for other age groups. Except for seniors ! Indeed, still according to Road Safety statistics, 370 seniors aged 65-74 died (+53 killed compared to 2019). “The number of deaths aged 65-74 per million inhabitants stands at 50 deaths per million inhabitants, which is above the average which is 48 deaths per million inhabitants”, we know. What’s more, we count 517 people aged 75 or over who lost their lives on the French road network in 2023which represents “a record down compared to 2022 and 2019”. “These ages remain at excess risk, with 77 killed per million inhabitants”we must nevertheless remember.

A measure of protection and not stigmatization

This is why the government has been thinking for some time about a new system aimed at curbing this high mortality, while the French population is aging. At the same time, it must take into account the geographical location of these seniors who sometimes live isolated in the countryside, with no other means of getting around than using their vehicle. At the European level, MEPs rejected the proposal for a compulsory medical examination to keep your driver’s license and called for each state to exercise self-determination. For the moment, in France, we offer seniorsaffix a sticker bearing the letter “S”like the badge worn by young drivers during their first years on the roads (“A” for apprentice).

The idea? Warn other motorists of the possible difficulties that the driver could encounter due to his advanced age, without stigmatizing him. The sticker is inexpensive since it only costs 4 eurosand remains to this day completely optional. “Contrary to an idea disseminated on social networks, there are no plans to make it compulsory to affix an “S” sticker to the back of cars driven by people over 70”can we read in a press release issued on the site of Road Safety to put things in perspective. “People who consider it useful to display such a sticker on their vehicle are completely free to do so”we insist.

Motorists’ skills change over time

While wanting to be reassuring, the experts nevertheless emphasize that “elderly people have fewer accidents than other age groups but these accidents are more serious due to their greater physical vulnerability to shocks of equal violence”. In other words, “for the same injury, a younger person survives, an older person dies”we explain, as a way of reminding us that the “S” sticker must be used to protect them first of all.

Which does not prevent us from asserting that over time “the skills required for travel are changing” but that “This development varies greatly from one person to another”. “All drivers are therefore advised to regularly consult a doctor to check their state of health and adapt their driving if necessary. Simple changes in habit and vehicle adjustments most often make it possible to preserve the ability to drive and reduce the risk of accidents”, we say, addressing all drivers, men or women, elderly or not. Vigilance is everyone’s business.

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