During the development of the Federal Government’s Road Safety Programme for 2021 to 2030, the Federal Ministry of Transport decided that ‘Vision Zero’ cannot be achieved merely with actions for which the Federal Government is responsible. “Vision Zero” means that we want to reduce the number of road fatalities to zero in the near future.

Where does Germany stand today?

Over the past 50 years, we have achieved a lot in our efforts to improve road safety. For more than five decades, our guiding principle in Germany has been: Every road fatality is one too many. That is what drives us. On the basis of this principle, the Federal Government, federal states and local authorities have for decades been undertaking innumerable successful actions to reduce the number of people killed and critically injured on the roads even further.

In 1970, more than 21,300 persons were killed on German roads. According to data provided by the Federal Statistical Office, in 2024, the number of road fatalities reached 2,770, which represents a long-term decrease of approximately 87 percent. This success also has to be considered against the backdrop that Germany is a location for industry and a transit country which depends on an efficient transport system with high traffic volumes. In other words: we have significantly reduced the number of road fatalities even though traffic volumes have been increasing continuously in the same period. And they continue to increase.

We have been able to improve road safety very successfully in Germany because we focus on science and efficiency. One is not possible without the other. We concentrate our measures on what is most likely to succeed according to scientific findings.

Taking what has been achieved as a starting point, this means: the effort involved in achieving further reductions will increase at a disproportionate rate as each further advance is made. There are no easy solutions any more. We must break new ground if we want to achieve even greater success.

The Federal Government is fully committed to “Vision Zero”. However, it can only be pushed forward if all government agencies and all social players act in unison. That is precisely why we have decided to form this pact and unite the efforts of stakeholders. Our aim is to make road safety activities in Germany even more effective and efficient.

Together for a common goal

Everybody under one umbrella. This is the approach the Federal Ministry of Transport has developed in collaboration with federal states, local authorities, and over 400 non-governmental actors involved in road safety work. The Federal Government, federal states, and municipalities  signed the “Road Safety Pact” in May 2021 at the 1st National Road Safety Conference and invite everyone to put this pact into practice.

The road safety vision shows the strategy’s common umbrella. It is supported by the measures that every stakeholder contributes to achieving the agreed goal. Source: PTV / BMV

The alliance unites all stakeholders guided by the principle of “Safe mobility – everyone’s responsible, everyone joins in”. The pact aims to achieve a national goal, which is to significantly reduce the number of seriously injured casualties in Germany and the fatalities by 40 % by 2030.

It is based on 12 areas for action that correspond to those in the Federal Government’s Road Safety Programme. The need for action arises from the rate of accidents, the societal relevance and the challenges for future mobility. The aim of the areas of action is to enable stakeholders to identify where they can take action in one or more areas and to gear their measures to this. The definition of these areas is designed to make it possible, in a best case scenario, for the measures to complement one another in subsequent processes as the common strategy is pursued or for synergies to be exploited.

By signing the Pact, the Federal Government, federal states and local authorities have committed themselves to contribute to achieving the goals by taking appropriate measures within their respective areas of responsibility. However, trade associations, industry and individual businesses should also feel that they are relevant stakeholders. Ultimately, this also applies to every individual transport user.

Hence, “Vision Zero” is a challenge for society as a whole, which must respond to ongoing developments. These include in particular demographic change, the digital transformation and connectivity. They will change our society and therefore have to be considered on the way towards innovative and sustainable mobility.

The first tangible evidence of improved cooperation is the common benchmarks agreed by the Federal Government and the federal state governments for road safety work. This is the first time they have been able to define common benchmarks for specific measures.

Role of the Federal Government: Lead the way, encourage, support

The Federal Government believes that its role in all the processes is to act, initiate and coordinate. We want to lead the way, encourage and support. That is why we involved and connected all the stakeholders from the very beginning. We are very pleased that this project has been so successful.

As Federal Government, we have of course also defined specific measures within our area of responsibility in the Road Safety Program for 2021 to 2030. This is how we will contribute to achieving to our commonly agreed target. Moreover, safety performance indicators (SPI) are intended to measure traffic safety and how they develop in certain areas. This is designed to support road safety work and better monitor the effectiveness of the measures implemented.

We want to encourage. We want to motivate and inspire others to join the “Road Safety Pact” and commit themselves fully to achieving the ultimate goal. Again: Every road fatality is one too many.

For this reason, we are glad to have the German Road Safety Council (DVR) as a strong partner at our side. The DVR will continue to significantly support the Federal Ministry of Transport in connecting the various stakeholders from society, industry and politics in order to roll out successful approaches, ideas, and initiatives across the board where needed.

What is the Road Safety Pact?