THE MOST DANGEROUS ROADS IN FRANCE | 90' Enquêtes | TMC

Excess speed, alcohol, drugs, dangerous overtaking or cell phones: 2016 marked the third consecutive annual rise in road fatalities with 3469 victims. We filmed two of the most dangerous highways in France. The RCEA in the center of the country and the N4 in the East. Firefighters, gendarmes, doctors or breakdown services: we follow the dangerous missions of these men and women who risk their lives in an attempt to save those of accident victims.Straddling the Allier and the Saône-et-Loire, one national highway gets the title of Death Highway” every year. The RCEA is considered the most dangerous road in France. This road, crossing France east to west, is used by hundreds of heavy goods vehicles. Alone, they represent half of the 16,000 vehicles that take it daily. The majority of serious and fatal accidents result from head-on collisions between light vehicles and heavy trucks.On January 8 last, a bus accident left 4 dead and 28 injured. Firefighters intervene daily on the RCEA, but also on the secondary roads, which are clogged with trucks. Small, narrow country roads with poor visibility where a simple error can prove fatal.In the East we are with the breakdown services and the gendarmes who work the National 4: a two-lane dual carriageway that links Paris to Strasburg via Nancy, 230 kilometers long. This section is considered one of the most hazardous in France. The N4 is a serious of very rolling main roads that are often jammed, causing a great number of pile-ups.On July 25 2014, the N4 was the scene of a terrible tragedy that shocked the whole region. Five members of the same family, two sisters and their children, killed instantly in a head-on collision with a truck. The cause, a truck driver under the influence of cocaine. The man responsible for the accident was sentenced to 10 years in jail. How did the family of the victims live through this tragedy? Why was the driver, already on record for drug problems, still at the wheel?An immersion into the action-packed days of the “guardian angels” of these deadly highways, who try, day after day, to save lives and stop reckless drivers.”