More French roads set to return to 90km/h speed limit 

A northern French department is set to become the latest to return to 90 km/h speed limits on secondary roads after local authorities voted the change through. 

The Eure (Normandy) council passed the changes last Friday (February 7) after propositions to increase the maximum speed up from the current 80 km/h limit were put forward last autumn.

Limits will not change immediately however – safety studies need to be conducted for areas of the road network which authorities wish to increase the limit on, before the national road safety authorities (sécurité routière) assess the project in autumn 2025. 

Updated speed limits will likely come into effect in 2026. 

Assuming the likely change proceeds, Eure will become the 53rd department in France to partially or fully reverse changes made in 2018, which saw a blanket 80 km/h speed limit introduced on secondary roads as a bid to improve road safety.

A law change in 2019 allowed departments to revert back to the original 90 km/h provided safety analyses were carried out.

Many of the secondary roads affected are in rural parts of departments.

Debate over road safety

The issues is contentious, with some saying the lower speeds helped reduce road accidents. 

This includes groups in Eure that campaigned against the changes, who also cite environmental concerns over increased greenhouse gas emissions.

However, others argue that the reduction was more dangerous, as it led to drivers attempting to overtake vehicles, which in turn caused accidents.

President of the Eure departement Alexandre Rassaërt said that the 2018 changes had not affected the safety of drivers when originally pushing to change the limits in autumn. 

He also claimed the changes had impacted drivers negatively, particularly those who drive to work or live in rural areas.

"People are fed up with the incessant changes in speed limits on the road network, so we are going to introduce a 50-70-90 km/h ruleset that will be clearer and easier to understand," he said.

Recently published data on road fatalities in France shows the number of accidents in 2024 was higher than the year before in many departments, including in some that have increased speed limits on secondary roads. 

Read more: MAP: Where did most fatal road crashes happen in France in 2024?

Not all roads affected by changes

In most instances, only around 20% of eligible roads in departments have seen the speed limits increase. 

Over half of French departments therefore have a mixture of 80km/h and 90 km/h speed limits on secondary roads. 

Our map below shows which departments have seen changes since 2019. 

Note that Gard and Morbihan departments are also currently considering re-raising the limit on some of their roads.

How do I know the speed limit on a French road? 

In departments where the speed limits differ, drivers may be concerned they could be speeding without knowing.

80 km/h remains the standard speed limit and applies to the network generally, with roads at 90 km/h the exception. 

Roads where the speed limit is 90 km/h must be clearly signalled to show if the limit changes.