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A vehicle lies on its roof at the scene of the accident on Mundsburger Damm.
© Marcus Brandt/dpa
Last year, fewer people were injured on Hamburg's streets, but more died.
Overall, traffic in the Hanseatic city has become safer, explains Interior Senator Grote.
Hamburg - 28 people died in accidents on Hamburg's streets last year.
That is four more than in 2022 and just as many as in the pre-Corona year 2019. This emerges from the new traffic safety balance that Interior Senator Andy Grote (SPD) presented on Tuesday together with the police leadership.
Among the dead in 2023 are two children who were hit by a bus while crossing streets in Hafencity and Bergedorf, as the head of the transport directorate, Enno Treumann, said.
Nine cyclists also died.
Five of them died in so-called turning accidents.
This means that trucks missed them when turning right.
In all five cases, the trucks were not equipped with turning assistants.
Of the 28 fatalities, nine were pedestrians.
In seven cases, those affected entered the roadway carelessly, in two cases even despite the red light.
The number of traffic accidents overall increased by four percent to 63,542 last year.
Compared to 2019, however, it is almost eight percent less.
“In that sense, it’s a pretty decent value,” said Grote.
Fewer people were injured last year and the number of seriously injured people fell by 14.5 percent.
The risk of an accident on Hamburg's roads is at a historically low level, provided the Corona years 2020 and 2021 are ignored, said the Interior Senator.
Last year, 492 people had an accident per 100,000 inhabitants.
In 2022 there were 504.
The vast majority of accidents, 88 percent, involved passenger cars.
In 92 percent of the cases there was damage to property.
The number of registered vehicles rose by 1.33 percent to over 950,000 last year.
“The car remains the number one means of transport in public spaces,” said Police Chief Falk Schnabel.
Bicycle traffic has decreased by four percent, explained Treumann.
Compared to 2019, according to Grote, it increased by 30 percent.
Schnabel sees one reason for the long-term positive development in the accident record in the reduced speed of traffic in Hamburg.
The monitoring systems would only have triggered around half as often in 2023 as in the previous year.
Nevertheless, too high a speed and too little distance are still the number one causes of accidents.
Accidents under the influence of alcohol increased by 16.7 percent compared to 2019, but decreased by 10.8 percent compared to 2022.
There was an increase of 5.9 percent in accidents under the influence of drugs compared to 2019 and a decrease of 3.9 percent compared to 2022. The drivers involved were mostly male and, according to addiction experts, showed increased consumer behavior, said Treumann.
In view of the expected partial legalization of cannabis on April 1st, Hamburg's top traffic police officer emphasized: "Cannabis is and remains a taboo in connection with driving motor vehicles!"
Grote criticized the fact that the traffic light coalition's draft law lacks a limit for the cannabis active ingredient THC.
Only in case law is there a specification of 0.1 nanograms per milliliter of blood.
“In this respect, we will be challenged a bit,” said the senator, referring to the control activities.
The Hamburg police have more than 600 so-called drug detectors, i.e. specially trained officers.
The police will use standardized driving skills tests during checks.
According to the CDU opposition in the citizenry, the new road safety record reveals a worrying development.
“The tripling of cyclists killed and the disproportionate 10 percent increase in accidents involving children are alarming indicators of the need for improved traffic education,” explained the parliamentary group’s transport policy spokesman, Richard Seelmaecker.
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The left-wing faction's traffic expert, Heike Sudmann, reiterated the demand for 30 km/h as the standard speed.
She accused the Senate of blocking a corresponding initiative in the Federal Council.
The SPD domestic politician Sören Schumacher explained: “Our goal of “Vision Zero” remains: every accident and every injury is one too many.” dpa