Accidents in road traffic: ADAC expects more traffic fatalities in 2022

After it was comparatively quiet on Germany’s roads in the past two years of the pandemic, significantly more vehicles are on the road again this year. With deadly consequences: According to ADAC statistics, significantly more people died in traffic accidents in 2022.

According to an ADAC forecast, the number of people killed in traffic accidents will increase this year. The traffic club expects a number of around 2770 road deaths. In the previous year, the number was 2562 at an all-time low. For the year as a whole, this would be an increase of eight percent. The ADAC assumes that this is due to the renewed increase in traffic. In 2021 and 2020, road traffic was significantly lower due to corona-related restrictions, which led to a decrease in the number of road deaths.

According to ADAC, the annual mileage of all motor vehicles in 2022 will still be around 4.5 percent below the mileage of 2019. Only in 2024 is it likely to have reached the pre-pandemic level again.

Compared to 2019 (3046 road deaths), this year’s number of road deaths is around nine percent lower. This decline affects all types of road use – apart from cycling. A slight increase in traffic deaths compared to 2019 can be assumed here, the traffic club announced.

The ADAC expects a significant increase in the number of people involved in road traffic accidents. It can be assumed that 358,000 people will be injured in a road accident this year – an increase of almost ten percent.

In the “Pact for Road Safety”, the federal government, states and municipalities had set the goal of 40 percent fewer road fatalities between 2021 and 2030. The step backwards this year makes it more than clear that greater efforts than before must be made to achieve this goal, emphasized the ADAC. In view of the ever-increasing proportion of older road users in the total population, their protection in road traffic must also come more into focus. Two-thirds of the pedestrians killed are 55 years or older, and among cyclists it is even more than three-quarters of those killed.