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German traffic deaths fall to new low

Alex Berry
February 25, 2022

With millions of Germans staying in their homes for months at a time, the country's roads became much safer. Cyclists, in particular, were able to enjoy the quieter streets.

https://p.dw.com/p/47ZoO
Empty street in front of the Brandenburg Tor in Berlin
Lockdowns in Germany left the country's roads largely empty in 2021Image: S. Ziese/picture alliance/blickwinkel

The number of people killed in traffic accidents in Germany reached its lowest ever recorded level in 2021, according to a report published by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis) on Friday.

The death toll from road accidents reached 2,569 last year. Fewer vehicles were on German roads and highways as millions of people were confined to their homes as COVID-19 continued to spread.

The official figures mark a 6% decline from 2020 and a 16% decline since 2019, before the pandemic began. 2021 marked the fewest traffic deaths since records began over 60 years ago.

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The number of casualties fell significantly in the early months of the year, with deaths in January and February way down, more than 60 fewer deaths each month, from the same time in 2020.

The effect of the lockdown in 2021 is made clear when compared to the months before the pandemic reached Germany in 2020.

Cyclists had an especially safe year, with the number of deaths from traffic accidents down 18%, based on data for the first 11 months of the year.

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Pedestrians, e-bike riders and drivers in passenger cars also saw a reduced fatality rate. Only drivers of goods vehicles saw an increase in deaths — up 18% on the previous year, to a total of 134.

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The number of people injured in traffic accidents was also down with records showing some 5.5% fewer severe injuries (a total of 54,826) and 1.1% fewer light injuries (a total of 266,666).

The number of incidents recorded by the police was around 2.3 million, of which some 324,000 included casualties of some form.

The spread of accidents across the country was in line with state populations with the two biggest states — North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria — recording the highest number of casualties and fatalities from traffic accidents.

However, Bavaria, which has the second-highest population in Germany, was the state with the greatest number of road accident deaths at 443 in 2021. That number marks a decrease of 41 deaths over 2020.

Edited by: Sean Sinico