French vigilantes kept disabling speed cameras last week as new government figures confirmed that accidents went down with fewer speed cameras.

The revolt of French citizens against speed cameras resulted in a record number of speed cameras being destroyed or otherwise disabled in 2019. Government officials warned that the lack of automated ticketing would have a demonstrably negative impact on road safety. The latest official accident tally, however, recorded 3239 road fatalities in 2019 — a 0.3 percent reduction compared to the prior year, and an all-time low. Injury accidents declined 1.1 percent.

The attacks continued last week. On Sunday, vigilantes in Crest fired two rounds into the speed camera on the RD538 in Crest. The device had just been installed four days earlier. On Saturday, the speed camera in Fitou was set on fire. Yellow spraypaint blinded the speed camera on the ring road in Toulouse, with multiple cameras covered throughout the area on Wednesday. On January 26, the turret speed camera on the RD944 in Molosmes was cut down just three days after it had been installed. A speed camera site was replaced by an impromptu art exhibit last week on the RD13 near Velle-le-Chatel. The six-foot-tall “Rat d’Art” was put in place on January 25.

A copy of the 2019 road fatality report (in French) is available in a 1.5mb PDF file at the source link below.

Source: Road Accidents 2019 (Observatoire National Interministeriel de la Securite Routiere, France, 1/31/2020)