2562 people died in traffic accidents on German roads last year - fewer than in decades. The number of accidents has increased slightly, but is still well below the level before the pandemic began.
The number of people killed and injured on the roads in Germany has reached its lowest level in more than 60 years. As reported by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden, 2562 people died in traffic accidents last year. That was 5.8 percent or 157 fewer people than in the previous year. The number of injuries fell by 1.3 percent compared to 2020 to 323,129.
On average, about 6,300 traffic accidents per day were recorded by the police in the past year. 885 people were injured and seven killed every day. Overall, the police counted 2.3 million collisions on German roads - 3.1 percent more than in 2020. According to the statistical office, however, the number was still well below the pre-pandemic level of 2019. At that time, a total of 2.7 million cases were registered, including 300,000 with so-called personal injury .
Almost 90 percent of the accidents last year resulted in property damage, and 11 percent killed or injured people. The number of accidents involving property damage rose by 3.8 percent to almost 2.1 million compared to the previous year. In contrast, the number of events involving personal injury fell by 2.1 percent to almost 260,000.
Most accidents involving personal injury also occurred in 2021, at 68 percent in built-up areas, 25 percent on rural roads and six percent on motorways. However, according to the statisticians, accidents on roads outside built-up areas often have worse consequences than on roads in built-up areas, partly because of the higher driving speeds.
On rural roads there are additional risk factors such as the lack of separation from oncoming traffic, poor overtaking opportunities or unprotected obstacles such as trees next to the road. Therefore, 29 percent of those killed in road traffic collisions died in urban areas, 59 percent on country roads and twelve percent on motorways.
According to the information, 1118 people died in a car in 2021, which was 43.6 percent of all road deaths. 529 people had fatal accidents on a motorbike such as a moped, motorbike or scooter - 20.6 percent of all traffic fatalities. 372 cyclists and 343 pedestrians died in accidents - 14.5 and 13.4 percent respectively of all traffic fatalities.
According to the statistics office, the number of fatalities fell by an above-average rate compared to 2020, especially among cyclists at 12.7 percent and pedestrians at 8.8 percent. In the case of people who died in a car or on a motorcycle, the declines were significantly lower at 4.4 and 4.2 percent, respectively.
