Enlarge image
The number of road deaths in Germany is falling - nevertheless, 2,719 people died in road traffic last year (symbol picture)
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
The number of road deaths in Germany has been falling for decades, but drivers of motorcycles and bicycles have benefited the least from the positive trend so far.
This is the result of an evaluation by the Federal Statistical Office.
From 1991 to 2020, the number of road deaths fell by a total of 76 percent.
The decrease was 83 percent for car occupants and 80 percent for pedestrians.
Among the riders of motorcycles and bicycles, the decline was significantly lower at 55 and 54 percent.
Always stay up to date?
Driving reports, analyzes, the latest news: you won't miss any articles from the Mobility section of SPIEGEL.
How to enable your notifications
Motorists continue to be the largest group of road fatalities - although their share has decreased significantly since 1991, from 60 to 43 percent.
For motorcyclists it increased from around 11 to 20 percent, for cyclists from 8 to 16 percent.
2719 people died in road traffic in 2020
Because of the corona pandemic, the decline in road deaths last year was particularly noticeable, as the Federal Office announced at the end of February.
The numbers have now been corrected slightly downwards, five fewer deaths than the provisional figures initially reported from the federal states.
According to the Federal Office, 2,719 people died in road traffic last year, 10.7 percent fewer than in the previous year.
It is still the lowest level in more than 60 years.
The statistics show the sharpest decrease compared to 2019 in the number of car occupants killed with a decrease of 14.2 percent.
The number of pedestrians killed fell by just under 10 percent, while the decline among cyclists was significantly lower at 4.3 percent.
73 percent of pedestrians killed and 60 percent of cyclists killed died in urban areas in 2020.
Almost 90 percent of all car occupants killed and more than 80 percent of motorcycle users killed were killed outside of town.
ene / dpa