With the reduction of pandemic restrictions, the number of road accident victims is increasing. So far, however, it has not returned to pre-corona levels. As the Federal Statistical Office reports in its "Accident Balance 2022", between January and November last year, 2782 people were nine percent more fatalities than in 2021.
However, this figure is still nine percent lower than before the pandemic, in 2019 3046 people were injured in accidents. At 14 and eleven percent respectively, there were increases in fatalities, especially among cyclists and pedestrians. The number of injured rose to 358,000 people, eleven percent more than in 2021, seven percent less than in 2019.
The fact that, contrary to the long-term trend, there will be a noticeable increase in deaths and injuries in traffic was to be expected due to the removal of pandemic-related restrictions on public life, says Eva-Maria Diehl-Wolf, head of the Department for Passenger Transport and Traffic Accidents.
The extent to which the pandemic measures influenced the figures is likely to be reflected in the number of alcohol-related accidents, which rose by 2022 percent in 20. One of the remarkable findings was that the number of fatally injured pedelec riders increased particularly sharply by 60 percent, a group that includes many older road users. In the group of over sixty-five-year-olds, there were 20 percent more fatalities than in 2021, as many as before the crisis.