In 2023, 2,839 people lost their lives in road accidents in Germany, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). This was 1.8 percent or 51 more fatalities than in the previous year. The number of people injured in road traffic accidents also rose compared to 2022, by 1.5% to 366,557. According to Destatis, this was due to a 3.4% increase in the number of minor injuries to 313,655, while the number of serious injuries fell by 8.4% to 52,902 people. This means that an average of 8 people were killed, 145 seriously injured and 859 slightly injured on German roads per day in 2023.

Manfred Wirsch, President of the German Road Safety Council(DVR), comments on the presentation of the 2023 road accident statistics: “The number of fatalities and injuries in road traffic must shake us up. We are about to miss the reduction targets for the current decade in Germany and Europe by a landslide. This is not about any political goals, but about the state’s mandate to protect the life and limb of the population. We need a turnaround – no one should be killed or suffer life-threatening injuries on the roads.”