European community for mobility management

Although bicycle use in German cities is increasing, the number of accidents involving cyclists is decreasing. Unfortunately, this positive trend is not valid for every city. Every day about 1.000 people on German roads are involved in an accident. 192 of them are cyclists who are the most vulnerable, being 2.3 times more likely to be involved in an accident than other road users. 

Germany’s traffic club analysed accident statistics involving cyclists in 43 cities with more than 100.000 inhabitants between 2005 and 2010. As a result there is a very positive trend. On the one hand the number of cyclists in cities is rising, on the other hand the number of accidents involving cyclists is decreasing. Within the 5 years in the studied cities the share of accidents involving cyclists decreased by 2.54% on average. In 22 (e.g. Erfurt, Wiesbaden or Hamburg) of the 43 considered cities, the number of accidents fell below the average of all the cities. In 12 of the cities, the number of accidents in which cyclists were involved decreased but less than the average value of all 43 cities. Berlin is among those 12 cities. Although the safety for cyclists has increased on average, unfortunately in 9 (e.g. Munich or Augsburg) of the cities the number of cyclists who were involved in accidents increased within the last 5 years. That means that in those 9 cities there is an acute need for action to improve cyclists’ safety as road users. 

Experts say that the more cyclists that are on the road, the more attention they gain from the other users. To be recognised as a serious road user is a central step for improving cyclists’ road safety. Nevertheless, road safety of cyclists also depends on adequate infrastructure measures. City governments must combine their efforts to increase the total share of cyclists with efforts to increase the road safety for this group. Statistics for 2010 show that even in major cities it is possible to avoid fatal accidents involving bikes. In 2010, in 14 of the 43 considered cities there wasn’t any fatal bicycle accidents. As a consequence, experts ask municipalities to implement a “zero traffic deaths concept”.

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