32nd incident involving an intervention vehicle on the VINCI Autoroutes network » PACA’s economic and political newsletter

While VINCI Autoroutes and the VINCI Autoroutes Foundation have deployed since 1 July an itinerant shock operation around the slogan “When are you going to hit? to testify to the anger of road and motorway personnel and challenge drivers and the general public, a new intervention vehicle was hit today.

Around 12:15 p.m., a VINCI Autoroutes van towing a luminous arrow was violently struck by another van traveling on the A72 towards Saint-Etienne. This new collision happened while the highway agent was protecting a broken down vehicle in the Montbrison sector (Loire). This is the 32nd collision with a vehicle on the VINCI Autoroutes network since 1 January.
Faced with this intolerable reality, VINCI Autoroutes and the VINCI Autoroutes Foundation deployed, on the occasion of major summer migrations, a large-scale itinerant operation, designed to challenge a majority of holidaymakers, whether they are traveling or take a break on a motorway service area. The last stage of this operation will take place tomorrow, Wednesday August 3 on the Loire area (A89), near the site of today’s accident. I therefore invite you to meet our agents on site to collect their testimony.

VINCI Autoroutes would like to once again alert the many road users who go on holiday, urging them to be ever more vigilant at the wheel and reminding them of the importance of respecting the safety corridor rule when approaching vehicles working on the motorway (patrol vehicles, convenience stores, SAMU, gendarmes, etc.). Four agents have been killed during operations since the beginning of the year on the entire French road and motorway network, and more than one intervention vehicle on average is still hit each week on the VINCI Autoroutes network. In the majority of cases (more than 3 collisions out of 5), these accidents are caused by sleeping or inattentive drivers.

A traveling installation to mark the spirits and awaken consciences

Patrolmen, motorway agents, repairmen, gendarmes… all regularly intervene on the motorway network with drivers in difficulty, to provide them with assistance. Beyond the direct protection of passengers, these “guardian angels of the motorway” work on a daily basis, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to prevent accidents: surveillance and maintenance of the motorway area, collection of objects on the tracks, protection in the event of congestion…, they are an essential link in everyone’s safety and actively contribute to making the motorway a network 5 times safer than any other road infrastructure.
However, their security is still too often jeopardized. Once again this year, an average of one van per week is hit during an intervention on the VINCI Autoroutes network, most often on a section offering good visibility conditions, and even though the signaling devices are activated (revolving lights, luminous arrows on the roof, etc.). Trained and trained, motorway agents operate within the framework of strict, proven procedures that have been repeated over and over again. The only parameter they do not control is the behavior of other drivers. However, in more than three out of five accidents affecting the personnel in intervention, the driver’s inattention and drowsiness are the cause1, which makes it impossible to respect the safety corridor, established to provide the agents with an intervention zone. secure.

Faced with this intolerable reality, VINCI Autoroutes and the VINCI Autoroutes Foundation deployed, on the occasion of major summer migrations, a large-scale itinerant operation, designed to challenge a majority of holidaymakers, whether they are traveling or ‘taking a break at a motorway service area: six low-loader trucks, each carrying three hit vans, set off from the Vienna toll barrier at the entrance to the A7 on July 1, to then drive through the whole of the VINCI Autoroutes network until early August.
The last stage of this operation will take place tomorrow, Wednesday August 3 on the Loire area (A89), near the site of today’s accident. I therefore invite you to meet our agents on site to collect their testimony.
Drowsiness, inattention, distraction, failure to respect distances and the safety corridor: dangerous behaviors that unfortunately persist Since January 1, 2022, 4 agents have lost their lives in the exercise of their mission on the road network and
French motorway. On average, more than two emergency vehicles are hit each week on the motorway network under concession2. In 3 cases out of 5, these accidents are caused by the drowsiness or inattention of the driver involved, two factors unfortunately still too often admitted by French drivers, as underlined by the Barometer of responsible driving carried out for more than 10 years by the VINCI Autoroutes Foundation.

1 Safety report for personnel working on concession motorways 2020 – ASFA
2 Safety report for personnel in intervention 2020 – ASFA

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32nd incident involving an intervention vehicle on the VINCI Autoroutes network » PACA’s economic and political newsletter


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