With the number of deaths caused by road accidents having increased in Germany by just under ten percent from 3,648 to 4,009 in 2011 compared to the previous year, there are signs of a significant recovery based on the provisional figures for 2012. According to in-formation from the Federal Statistical Office, the number of deaths caused by road accidents will drop by 10.1 percent to 3,606 fatalities. This would continue the overall positive trend of the last ten years. There are also provisional figures for 2012 available from France. According to information from the “Observatoire national interministériel de la sécurité routière” (ONISR), it is assuming a reduction of roughly eight percent to 3,645 deaths caused by road accidents compared to 2011. This shows that the EU is on the right track in terms of road safety. The target formulated by the EU Commission in July 2010 to halve the number of annual deaths caused by road accidents on Europe’s roads again by 2020 still poses a huge challenge though. One strategy is to improve the situation on rural roads. As the number of deaths caused by road accidents is still very high on rural roads compared to fatalities on roads in built-up areas and on motorways. Just under 61 percent of all the deaths caused by road accidents lost their lives on rural roads n Germany in 2011. This percentage has hardly changed compared to previous years and this unfortunate trend is likely to be confirmed again in 2012. This situation is not any rosier in many other EU countries, for example in France, Spain, the Czech Re-public and Austria. There is a whole range of causes for the huge risk potential on rural roads. For example, compared to city traffic, there are higher speeds or speed differences between different road users, plus varying quality in road surfaces, oncoming traffic, poor opportunities for overtaking, junctions and unprotected obstacles, such as trees, right next to the road. The facts and figures mentioned are reason enough for DEKRA to dedicate the 2013 road safety report to accidents on rural roads. This report should at the same time be far more than just a collection of facts about the current state. This report is intended rather to provide food for thought and guidance for politics, road and infrastructure experts, manufacturers, scientific institutions as well as associations and all road users. The topic of rural roads was also the focus of a DEKRA survey, which was carried out at branches nationally in January/February 2013. What is particularly interesting, among other things, are the answers to the question of what drivers fear most on rural roads. Game crossing roads was mentioned most frequently at 72.2 percent, oncoming traffic/overtaking vehicle (45.9 percent), poor road surface (34.1 percent), motorcyclists (25.1 percent), pedestrians/cyclists (23 percent), narrow roads (21 percent), tractors turning into the road (19.2 percent), sharp bends (18.9 percent) and trees/avenues (10.3 per-cent) followed significantly further behind. The figures mentioned are of course only an expression of personal perception, as a glance at real accidents shows. For example, 714 people lost their lives due to impact with a tree next to a rural road in Germany in 2011. That is almost 30 percent of all fatalities on rural roads and just under 18 percent of all road users killed in road traffic. By comparison: There were 20 deaths in total caused by accidents involving game on German roads in 2011. These examples alone demonstrate that in order to actually achieve the afore-mentioned EU Commission’s target of halving the number of deaths caused by accidents again by 2020, sustainable efforts are required to increase road safety on rural roads specifically. The expert organisation DEKRA will also continue to contribute to this. Our expertise is appreciated on national and international bodies. Our accident analysts are also regularly involved when it comes to establishing the causes of road accidents. The vehicle testing and crash tests carried out by DEKRA also ultimately provide valuable findings with regard to providing greater road safety. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting