The first seven months in this strangest of years has seen a staggering 22% increase in the number of drivers found on the roads without valid licences.
Says a note from the PSP (city police): “From January 1 to July 31, the PSP detained 3,019 people for this reason, 522 more than during the same period in 2019”.
The new total is “especially worrying” as it has a knock-on effect on road accidents.
“The driving vehicles by people without legal licence to do so represents a danger to road safety”, says the statement, referring to the fact that “these people have not had the necessary training” to deal with all the rules and information on the road and consequently have “difficulty in interpreting them”.
Last year, during this same seven-month period, 84 of the 2,467 people arrested for driving without a licence had been involved in road accidents.
This year that number increased to 98 – representing a 17% increase.
As in 2019, citizens “practising this crime” have an average age of 32.
Overall however traffic accidents in months seriously compromised by the pandemic have decreased (by 31%), as have the number of deaths on the roads (-22%), serious injuries (-26%) and light injuries (-37%).
