Significantly fewer road deaths in the Corona crisis

Lisa Weidner studied German and sociology and completed several journalistic internships. She is a volunteer at Hubert Burda Media Verlag and writes for the "Meine Familie und Ich" magazine and on nutrition and health topics.

More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.

Lockdown and home office - that means: significantly emptier streets. The number of deaths and injuries in road traffic fell significantly during the corona pandemic.

Historic low in accident deaths in the first half of the year due to the corona pandemic: never since German reunification have fewer people been killed or injured in traffic accidents. The lower traffic volume due to the pandemic had a significant impact on road accidents, the Federal Statistical Office said on Friday.

In the first six months, 1281 people died in road accidents. According to preliminary results of the authority, that was 195 people or 13.2 percent fewer than in the first half of 2019. The number of injured fell by 18.7 percent to just under 148,100.

Less stress, fewer cars

The lockdown with home office or short-time work meant that there were fewer commuters. In the first few months of the pandemic in particular, the streets were significantly emptier. "There was a significantly lower traffic volume, and that meant fewer conflicts," said the researcher Siegfried Brockmann from the accident research of the insurance on Friday the German press agency. Less traffic also means less stress for road users, especially in cities. This could also play a role.

A spokeswoman for the ADAC attributed the results of the statistics in particular to the decrease in traffic outside the cities during the pandemic. "Because most of the serious accidents with injuries and deaths occur in normal times on rural roads in particular," said Katrin van Randenborgh. "There is still the greatest need for action to reduce the number of fatalities on the country and federal highways." At the same time, the figures reflected the increase in recreational motorcycling. "While car and truck traffic has fallen sharply in the months since March, there were more motorcyclists on the road against the trend."

There were regional differences

Nationwide, in the first six months of this year, an average of 15 people died in road traffic for every 1 million inhabitants in Germany. According to the Federal Statistical Office, however, there were clear regional differences. Well above the average were Brandenburg with 27 traffic fatalities per 1 million inhabitants, Saxony-Anhalt with 24 and Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein with 22 each.

In the city-states of Hamburg and Berlin, the figure was well below the national average, with four and eight road deaths per 1 million inhabitants, respectively. The number was also low in North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland with eleven road deaths per 1 million inhabitants, as well as in Baden-Württemberg with 13 and Hesse with 14.

Increase in bicycle accidents

Accident researcher Brockmann emphasized that pedestrians and cyclists had also benefited from the development in the number of accidents, "but to a much lesser extent". Instead, switching to bicycles led to an increase in accidents with cyclists in Berlin, for example. If more people ride bicycles even after the end of the corona pandemic, this could also mean a higher risk of accidents as long as the infrastructure is not changed accordingly: "The basic problem of cycling is the accident at an intersection."

According to the Federal Statistical Office, the police recorded 18.3 percent fewer accidents in the first six months of this year than in the first half of 2019. The number fell to around 1.1 million, it said. The number of all accidents thus reached the second lowest value since German reunification. Only in the first half of 1998 there were fewer accidents.

Property damage remained with almost 954,600 accidents in the first half of 2020 - a decrease of 18.6 percent. Around 118 700 accidents resulted in injuries or deaths. (lw / dpa)

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