Skip to content
  • Home
  • News
  • At Thionville, the road safety awareness-raising campaign is in full swing

15/04/2024 News

At Thionville, the road safety awareness-raising campaign is in full swing

On April 16, the road safety event at the high school of Thionville in France’s Grand Est region, was a key milestone in the deployment of the road safety awareness-raising campaign created by the Prévention Routière association backed by TotalEnergies Corporate Foundation. More than 500 of the school’s students should effectively take part in this entire day given over to road safety. The event is also an opportunity to reiterate the objectives and actions introduced as part of this campaign, in a context where there are still far too many road accident victims on French roads.

A quantified objective to reach out to as many as possible in four key regions

TotalEnergies Corporate Foundation believes that taking tangible actions for young people by intervening directly in secondary schools and higher education institutions will contribute to a lasting change in mindsets and behaviors, saving lives being the direct consequence.

With this campaign, currently being deployed at local level in four regions, the objective for 2024 is to raise awareness among 1,500 and 2,000 young people: on top of the 500 students of the Rosa Parks high school in Thionville, more than 500 young people from the Valéry Larbaud high school in Cusset, from the International accommodation center at Bellerive-sur-Allier, and from the agricultural high school in Neuvy (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region), will be able to participate in all of the activities on offer for an entire day. This will also be the case in the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, where young people from the Building apprentice training center in Pau and L’Hermitage university in Agen will take part in the campaign, and in Occitanie, at the Maritime high school in Sète and the Jean-Baptiste Dumas high school in Alès.

The awareness-raising campaign provides a tangible answer in regions affected by road accidents:

  • Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: 417 killed including 96 aged 18-24 per million inhabitants*
  • Nouvelle-Aquitaine: 378 killed including 130 aged 18-24 per million inhabitants*
  • Occitanie: 376 killed including 128 aged 18-24 per million inhabitants*
  • Grand Est: 264 killed including 95 aged 18-24 per million inhabitants*

* Figures of the ONISR for 2022

A day-long event for a global vision of road safety challenges

Workshops on different themes led by professionals will be held throughout the day.

  • Theme: Alcohol and some of its hidden effects. As everyone knows, your blood alcohol level depends on the amount of alcohol ingested. But the actual quantities of alcohol in the drinks served in bars are not so well known. And things get even more sketchy with drinks served at home or round at friends’ houses. Two specific workshops will inform the students about the dangers of drunk driving.
  • Theme “Four-wheel vehicle simulator”. From the age of 15, young people can sign up for an “early learner” driving course in preparation for taking their driving test (category B, car). The greatest risk of having an accident generally occurs in the first few years after they have passed their driver’s license. The lack of experience can sometimes explain certain high-risk behaviors. A simulator gives drivers the opportunity to experience high-risk situations – that they have sometimes never encountered – without putting them in danger. This workshop will put a real focus on prevention.
  • Theme “new mobilities”. For several years now, electric machines have started appearing in cities, mainly electric scooters, hoverboards and unicycles. In late October 2019, a decree introduced regulations for the use of these vehicles on the public road. A workshop will be held to meet users’ need for information as regards these new means of transport.

Still too many road accidents in France

In 2023, nine people were killed every day, one person was injured every two minutes, and one personal accident occurred every three minutes. Road insecurity is still a shock wave that affects 17 million French citizens.

Last year, 619 young people (aged 14-24) were killed on the road and 75,559 were injured. Although road traffic mortality dropped by 3% in 2023 compared to the previous year, a 19% rise in the number of young people aged 14-17 killed was recorded between 2022 and 2023.

A study of road insecurity reveals causes arising from the evolution of society (alcohol, drugs, smartphones, speed, etc.) as the main causes of road accidents among young people.

Because road traffic accidents are the main cause of death among young people, TotalEnergies Corporate Foundation supports the initiative of the Prévention Routière association, whose aim is to roll out awareness-raising campaigns for young people, and more particularly high-school, BTS and CFA students.