Overview
- Calvados has issued provisional orders leaving about 8% of its roads at 90 km/h while it commissions a new accidentology study to rejustify those limits.
- An administrative court in Caen previously ordered a return to 80 km/h on 27 contested axes, citing procedural flaws, missing essential crash data, and errors in how accident figures were assessed.
- Department officials say the provisional orders buy time for a detailed study that will map each crash, its location and causes so the speed decisions can be better documented for courts.
- Road‑user groups and operators report widespread confusion from frequent limit changes, with a navigation firm finding most small speed excesses stem from driver inattention when speed limits shift repeatedly.
- The Calvados dispute reflects a national pattern since 2018 in which many departments have toggled between 80 and 90 km/h, producing a patchwork of limits that safety NGOs say courts must police to protect lives.