Road fatalities in Germany increase sharply, reversing a 20-year trend

According to Germany's Federal Statistics Office, Destatis, the number of people who died in road traffic accidents in Germany increased by 9.9 per cent to 4,009 in 2011 compared to 2010 - the first time in 20 years that the number of fatalities has risen. Paradoxically, the overall number of road traffic accidents registered by the police was down by 2.1 per cent (to 2.36 million in 2011) compared to 2010.
July 10, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
According to Germany's Federal Statistics Office, 6163 Destatis, the number of people who died in road traffic accidents in Germany increased by 9.9 per cent to 4,009 in 2011 compared to 2010 - the first time in 20 years that the number of fatalities has risen. Paradoxically, the overall number of road traffic accidents registered by the police was down by 2.1 per cent (to 2.36 million in 2011) compared to 2010.

The majority of fatal accidents, 60.9 per cent, happened on out of town country roads and this sector the largest percentage increase – 10.6 per cent - over the previous year.

‘Unsuitable speed’ was still the most common fault in 2011 but the absolute number of accidents due to inappropriate speed actually decreased in 2011. However, there were 7.1 per cent more of deaths in these accidents: nearly 40 per cent of all traffic fatalities last year were due to excessive speed of drivers involved in accidents.

The statistics also reveal an increase of 17 per cent in the number of alcohol related fatalities in accidents, the first time this has increased since 2002, and which related to 10 per cent of all fatalities.

The only major improvement recorded was that the number of children who died in road accidents in 2011 was down 17.3 per cent over the previous year.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Sharp drop in traffic related deaths in Denmark
    July 17, 2012
    In the first five months of 2012, the number of traffic related deaths in Denmark was down by 25 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2011. In May, the number of deaths in traffic was by nearly half - 13 compared with 25 the previous year. The Danish Road Directorate (Vejdirektoratet) and the Council for Road Safety (Rådet for Sikker Trafik) call the figures remarkable. However, the authorities have difficulty explaining the exact reason for the sharp decline but cite rising fuel prices, the eco
    Read More
  • Distraction dominated teen driver accident causes.
    June 3, 2015
    As a new report shows that distracted driving is a bigger cause of accidents than previously thought, Jon Masters asks what should be done to counter this problem. Research carried out by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has shed new light on the dangers of distraction for teen drivers. Six years of study using video analysis has shown that 58% of all crashes involving teen drivers are caused by the driver being distracted and proved that the influence of external factors is stronger than previously th
    Read More
  • US incident management needs national standardisation
    January 26, 2012
    I-95 Corridor Coalition's Tom Martin discusses the state of the art in incident management and what visitors to this year's ITS World Congress can expect of the first ever Emergency Responder-Incident Management Day. Developments in incident management are driven in the main by need. A bald statement, and one which holds no surprises, it nevertheless quantifies the evolutionary process within the I-95 Corridor Coalition over the last decade and more. Spread over 16 states from Maine to Florida, the Coalitio
    Read More
  • Significant drop in Europe’s traffic congestion mirrors economic downturn
    June 25, 2012
    Inrix, a leading international provider of traffic information and intelligent driver services, has released its latest traffic scorecard which shows that, among the 13 European nations analysed, the countries impacted the most by the European debt crisis mirror those with the largest drops in traffic congestion. Portugal (-49%), Ireland (-25%), Spain (-15%) and Italy (-12%) were among those with the largest declines last year. Despite being considered the strongest European economies, troubles across the E
    Read More

Highlighted Content