Since 2023, TotalEnergies Foundation has been working with the Prévention Routière association (aPR) to make young people aware of the risks related to speeding, alcohol consumption, and the use of narcotics and driving distractors.

According to the French Road Safety Observatory (ONISR), young adults aged 18-24 are still the age group most at risk (twice as much as the average) of losing their lives or sustaining serious injuries on the road.  In 2024, 531 young people died (34 more than in 2023), and 2,800 were seriously injured (-1%), so this age group needs particular attention when it comes to awareness of the consequences of high-risk behaviors when driving.

A program currently deployed in seven regions where the number of road accidents is extremely high

Since 2023, TotalEnergies Foundation has been working with the Prévention Routière Association to talk to young people in secondary and higher education establishments. Their partnership is founded on the firm belief that it is by working at the heart of the regions and directly with young people that lasting changes can be made as regards behaviors on the road or in cities.

After an initial “pilot” year in 2023 that raised awareness among 560 students in the Grand Est region of France, the campaign reached out to a further 2,226 students in 2024, through specific road safety days in four French regions. The schools where the program was deployed included the Rosa Parks high school in Thionville (Grand Est), the Edmond Perrier high school in Tulle and L’Hermitage in Agen (Nouvelle-Aquitaine), the Valéry Larbaud high school in Cusset (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes), the La Mer high school in Sète and the La Merci high school in Grande Motte (Occitanie).

The academic year 2024-2025 saw the awareness program’s reach extended to include seven regions (Grand Est, Occitanie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Pays de la Loire, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Normandie). In total, over 4,000 students will benefit from an average of four hours’ awareness-raising activities.

Immersive workshops to help students realize for themselves

The awareness-raising days are organized around practical workshops led by members of the aPR association, and volunteers trained in the fight for safer roads. The educational tools are adapted to encourage the students to realize the devastating consequences of high-risk behaviors.

• Consumption of alcohol and narcotics when driving: “Dose Bar” workshops, and activities where glasses that give the impression of being under the influence of alcohol or narcotics are worn, to help young people realize the actual effects of these kinds of substances.
• Distractors: in the “VR googles” or “Blaze Pods” workshops, students actually experience the impact of writing a text message or reading a notification when driving on their capacity to react.
• 4-wheel simulator: this device puts students in critical situations at the wheel, to raise their awareness of risks related to a lack of experience.
• New mobilities: regulations governing electric scooters or hoverboards are relatively recent (2019) and still not well known. A specific workshop gives young people the latest on the current laws.

On the initiative of this partnership with the Prévention Routière association, TotalEnergies Foundation intends to play its role as a major mobility player to the full, thereby contributing - by passing on knowledge and field expertise, to halving the number of deaths and serious injuries caused by road accidents by 2030, in line with the United Nations objectives.

* Source: 2023 figures from the ONISR (French Road Safety Observatory)