While drivers' behaviour is stigmatized as the main cause of road insecurity, it is an exaggeration to conclude that it is the main source of public action. Even though this public and mediatized image unquestionably shapes public action, it is essential to examine the institutional variables and rationalized configurations of interests. The authors posit that public action in France depends not only on the role assigned to the state by those responsible for public action on road safety, but also on the extent and quality of the resources mobilized. A diachronic approach to this public policy shows that the successive modalities of modernization of state apparatus is another factor determining changes in road safety-related public action.