According to AFP, the Loire-Atlantique provincial council announced on September 19 that the Loire-Atlantique council had removed the province's drink-driving danger signs at the request of the wine industry.
Image from: European Times
The signs, which have been in place since mid-July, have a gray background and a red triangular frame above the center with a glass of wine in the frame and a car sliding off the road below. The provincial council explained that the pattern of the glass of wine indicated that more wine had been consumed. But the wine industry, believing the signs to be a rebuke to wine consumption, began demonstrating, demanding that they be removed.
The provincial council noted that it will send staff to revise the design of these signs and will meet with representatives of the wine industry for consultation at the end of September. We are very alert to the feelings of those involved. It is very important to issue a clear message.
Claude Chabot, spokesman for the Loire-Atlantique coalition against road violence, thinks the removal of the signs was a big mistake. He said the signs were well conceived and that provincial councillors were doing exactly the right thing in terms of road safety. The signs were intended to prevent the dangers of drunk driving and were not offensive to anyone but the wine industry, which was offended by the signs.
According to figures from the Loire-Atlantique government, 65 people were killed in road crashes in the province from September 2019 to August 2010, compared to 58 deaths the previous year.
