“We have passed six months without a fatal road accident,” declares Philippe Castanet, prefect of Lozère

En 11 ans, 87 personnes ont été tuées dans des accidents de la route en Lozère. Midi Libre – ARCHIVE RDH

Payments of CAP aid, police reinforcements, road accidents, renewable energy, Philippe Castanet, prefect of Lozère, took stock of the major issues of the moment in a press conference.

Philippe Castanet held a press conference, Monday July 8, 2024. He discussed the issues of the moment.

The payment of the Pac

"We settle CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) aid payments. At last count, 110 M€ were paid to Lozère agriculture, detailed the prefect. Aid distributed across 2 156 farms in the department. "The amount of the CAP increased this year. Last year, the envelope was 108 million euros; for 2 185 farms." For the State representative, it remains to be paid "a little less than 3 M€, which will be& nbsp;done before the end of July", and which will bring the total aid in 2023-2024 to 113 M€. And Philippe Castanet comments: "Our farmers are very supported. Those who proclaim that France will pay 2 billion euros less to Europe know very well that there will be less aid. The Pac counts a lot in Lozère and it continues to increase." While recognizing that the system is not perfect, "it can be improved". And to recall that the turnover of agriculture in Lozère was 335 million euros; in 2023.

Risks

"Security remains a big concern, underlined the prefect. It is not possible to organize major events without major security measures. I recall the accident at the Mende stadium where a person's hand was torn off. The excavations are necessary." The public official said "concerned" by violence in general, outside the summer period: "Delinquency in Lozère is decreasing except in two registers: violence between people who know each other and  ;nbsp;cybercrime." Despite everything, reinforcements are planned for the summer period: "A detachment of twelve gendarmes reservists arrived in Florac on July 1st and  nbsp;six in Mont-de-Randon to prevent delinquency from developing." And avoid illegal parking, congestion of road traffic in certain sectors, prevention of fires forest, without forgetting road safety.

Road safety

"We have passed six months without a fatal road accident in Lozère. This had never happened, s’is congratulated Philippe Castanet. This is the result between measurements , the behavior of the drivers and, it must be admitted, a part of luck." Remembering that the fight by law enforcement against road crime focuses on alcohol and drugs while driving, but also on the use of cell phones. In total, over six months, 17 bodily accidents were recorded "compared to 31 last year, – 39%. As well as the number of injured, down 41%.

Accidentology in figures

For the period 2013-2023, total number of injury accidents recorded: 744. Total number of motorized two-wheeler accidents: 246 (or 33.06%). Total number of deaths: 87 including 24 drivers on motorized two-wheelers (i.e. 27.59%). Total number of injured hospitalized: 478, including 181 drivers of motorized two-wheelers (i.e. 37.87%). Total number of minor injuries: 266, including 63 drivers of motorized two-wheelers (i.e. 23.68%). The Lozérian road network is made up of: 65 km of motorway, 155 km of national roads, 2,262 km of departmental roads and 5,043 km of lanes municipal. With accident-prone areas distributed around Mende and along the motorway axis. In absolute value, departmental roads are the most accident-prone, the motorway remains the road on which accidents are the most serious, according to the guidance document on security Lozère road.

Renewable energies

"We ask the municipalities to deliberate on the acceleration of renewable energies." In other words, each municipal council in Lozère is invited to produce a document that locates the areas where clean energy installations could be installed, called acceleration zones. About forty municipalities have already deliberated: “Those that will not deliberate are sending a message to renewable energy developers that they can set up wherever they want, which I cannot imagine.” Once the summary map of these acceleration zones has been established, the prefecture may be “helpful” or “not helpful”, when a project is proposed in Lozère. “In any case, we will enforce the law”, warned the prefect.

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