In order to estimate the vehicle kilometers travelled (VKT) by all motor vehicles on the German road network in 2014 a new method was developed and applied. Basically, the method consists of automatic traffic counts which took place on 520 randomly chosen roads sections all over Germany. In the traffic counts all times of the day and all seasons are covered. The sample of road sections is stratified by road class and location (within/outside built-up areas); all road classes are considered in the survey. By using road section length, traffic counts were transformed into km travelled and expanded to the target population of all road sections. The numbers of vehicles counted can be differentiated with respect to type and nationality of the vehicle. Therefore, km travelled can be calculated for 9 types of vehicles and 38 nationalities. The annual total VKT is estimated to be 743,800 million vehicle km. Approximately 81% (601,000 million vehicle km) are related to passenger cars followed by vans (51,800 million km) and semi-trailer trucks (26,200 million km). The annual total VKT of foreign motor vehicles on the German road network amounts to 41,800 million vehicle km (5,6% of all km travelled). Since 2002 the VKT of foreign motor vehicles on German roads has increased by 53%. By relating the official accident data for 2014 to the corresponding annual totals VKT of motor vehicles it is possible to calculate risk indices (the risk of being involved in an accident involving personal injury, and the injury risk of vehicle users). Both types of risk figures can be classified according to vehicle type and accident or injury severity. With respect to vehicle type it appears that buses and especially powered two-wheelers have a particularly high risk. An analysis of the data broken down by road category shows that by far the lowest accident risk can be found on motorways (Bundesautobahn). A comparison of the 2014 risk indices with those from 2002 shows a considerable decline. The risk of being involved in an accident involving personal injury has decreased by a total of 26%. Moreover, the risk for vehicle users of being injured or killed in a road accident even has declined by 29%. (Author/publisher)
Abstract