Firecracker sales ban on New Year's Eve: sharp decrease in accidents

Created: 12/30/2021, 12:10 PM

From: Sandra Kathe

According to the extrapolation of a health insurance company, there were 40 percent fewer emergencies after New Year's Eve accidents than before the pandemic.

© Patrick Pleul / dpa

The number of New Year's Eve accidents has fallen significantly with the pandemic.

In order to relieve hospitals, politicians have again imposed a ban on the sale of fireworks.

Update from Thursday, December 30th, 2021, 12 noon:

According to a projection by the Barmer health insurance company, the number of hospital admissions after New Year's Eve accidents in the pandemic has decreased by around 40 percent. While in the period between December 29, 2019 and January 2, 2020, 6,200 people across Germany had to be treated as inpatients due to too much alcohol or accidents with fireworks, there were only 3800 cases in the same period of the following year.

According to the statistics, most of the hospital admissions were due to injuries from fireworks.

The Barmer reports about 4,000 incidents around the turn of the year 2019/2020.

In the past year, 2,500 people with injuries were treated.

The number of alcohol-related hospital treatments has also halved.

The sales ban on New Year's Eve fireworks, which was also pronounced for this year, aims to continue this development at the turn of the year 2021/2022 in order to relieve the hospitals, which are already heavily burdened.

Relief of the clinics: the court confirms the ban on selling firecrackers on New Year's Eve

First report from Wednesday, December 29th, 2021, 3:45 p.m .:

Frankfurt / Berlin - Due to various complaints, the Higher Administrative Court Berlin-Brandenburg dealt with the ban on the sale of New Year's Eve fireworks, which had been decided on due to the corona pandemic * - and confirmed the ban in the second instance. Accordingly, the federal ordinance prohibiting the sale of New Year's fireworks is legally valid. The administrative court in Berlin had already confirmed the ban on the sale of firecrackers.

The reason for the decision was that, due to the urgency, a sufficiently reliable assessment of the legality of the regulation was not possible.

The purpose pursued with it, to prevent further stress on the hospitals, which are particularly busy due to the corona pandemic, therefore prevails in the weighing of the consequences.

The sale of New Year's Eve fireworks was also prohibited at the second turn of the year during the corona pandemic.

The measure is intended to protect the already heavily burdened clinics from numerous injuries.

© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand / dpa

Fireworks sale ban: Court rejects complaint from dealers

Pyrotechnics manufacturers and dealers as well as a buyer had taken action against the sales ban. The Berlin Administrative Court then decided that the regulation in the Explosives Ordinance on the sales ban was not objectionable. The measure is suitable to reduce the number of people injured by the burning of New Year's fireworks.

On New Year's Eve there are always serious accidents when shooting New Year's Eve fireworks.

At the turn of the year 2019/2020, the Frankfurt fire brigade alone reported over 300 operations in the city area.

At particularly popular celebrations such as the Eiserner Steg, access restrictions were necessary in the pre-Corona times, and in some parts of the city also bans on firecrackers * were necessary.

In order to prevent injuries and thus prevent additional pressure on hospitals and emergency services, the sale of New Year's Eve fireworks was banned throughout Germany last year.

Firecracker sales ban due to Corona: Police in Bavaria checked at the borders

In some regions of Germany, however, this also causes problems.

For example, in the border areas of Bavaria, a number of Germans have already been caught smuggling illegal fireworks from the Czech Republic.

"We are seeing a significant increase this year compared to 2020," said a spokesman for the Federal Police Inspectorate in Selb in Upper Franconia.

Compared to the time before the corona pandemic, however, the federal police in Selb, Waidhaus and Waldmünchen near the German-Czech border have not observed any increase.

Firecrackers are not prohibited on New Year's Eve - those who celebrate should know that

The New Year's Eve party and the gunfire are not strictly prohibited.

But there are limitations. *

Firecrackers, which are mainly bought in markets close to the border, are currently seized almost every day.

The big problem with this is that the fireworks are often forgeries or models that are particularly dangerous.

Anyone caught with illegal firecrackers must expect reports under the Explosives Act.

In addition, the polluters have to pay for the costly destruction of the firecrackers.

Firecrackers despite sales ban: Many products from the Czech Republic and Poland are illegal and dangerous

On Tuesday alone, young people with several kilograms of fireworks were caught in the area in three cases. On the same day, veil investigators near Furth in the forest found 30 kilograms of prohibited firecrackers during three controls, as the federal police announced on Wednesday. Often there are occasional buyers, such as commuters from the Czech Republic, who bring something or private individuals who shop for themselves or for some friends, said the federal police spokesman. In some cases, however, the perpetrators would also resell the goods.

In Poland too, fire fighting bodies are traditionally allowed all year round, so that people from the border regions in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony regularly stock up on foreign products here as well.

Here, too, the emergency services are increasingly preparing for controls at the turn of the year.

(ska with AFP / dpa)