On 13 November 2024, the Federal Cabinet adopted the 2022/2023 Road Traffic Accident Prevention Report. The Federal Ministry of Transport submitted it to the German Bundestag for consideration. The process is still pending. The Report has already been published (Bundestag printed paper 20/14950 (Bundestag printed paper 20/14950- only in German).

What is the Accident Prevention Report?

The report on measures to prevent road accidents has been published every other year since 1975 and submitted to the German Bundestag. It provides an overview and summary of road safety policy at national and international level.

The most recent Accident Prevention Report 2022/2023 provides information on approximately 280 measures to be implemented by the Federal Government to improve road safety. Please note that this report does not include all road safety activities in Germany.

With the adoption of the Road Safety Programme for 2021 to 2030, the structure of the Accident Prevention Report also changed. It now reflects the structure of the Road Safety Programme. This allows to monitor measures that guide the Federal Government’s further road safety work.

What are the current report’s main findings?

After adopting the Road Safety Programme for 2021 to 2030, the Federal Government focused on implementing the announced measures. At the same time, it worked on a monitoring system for these measures that allowed a critical analysis of its own actions and targeted adjustments.

Trends in accident rates in Germany

In 2024, 2,770 people were killed in road traffic. That was 60 percent fewer than in December 2001. However, since 2011, this positive trend has been slowing down. Moreover, accident statistics for 2020/2021 were significantly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. After the disproportionate declines in these two years, the number of accidents rose again in the current reporting period, but then fell again in 2024. The number of road fatalities has decreased by 9% compared with 2019.

Most fatal accidents still happen on rural roads. In 2024, while only 25% of all accidents involving personal injury happened on rural roads, they led to about 57% of all road fatalities. 54% of all the persons killed on rural roads were sitting in passenger cars, 24% were riding motorcycles. Most accidents happened within built-up areas. They accounted for 33% of fatalities. Roughly 66% of the persons killed were riding bikes or walking.

What is the Federal Government doing to improve road safety?

The Federal Ministry of Transport is pursuing ‘Vision Zero’: no more road fatalities. We are implementing numerous measures to promote road safety, with a particular focus on vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, younger and older road users.

The Federal Ministry of Transport currently has around €15.4 million per annum at its disposal for publicity campaigns to improve road safety. For an overview of road safety measures adopted by the Federal Ministry of Transport please visit our website For an overview of road safety measures adopted by the Federal Ministry of Transport please visit our website.

Where do we go from here?

Recognizing that road safety work is a comprehensive task that involves society as a whole, the Federal Government promotes practical exchange and cooperation with all stakeholders. That is why the Federal Logistics and Mobility Office has been offering multi-day courses on municipal road safety work since 2024.

The Federal Government is supporting the European Commission within the framework of the European Road Safety Observatory (ERSO) in developing a tool to support national road safety strategies and action plans.

For an overview of all accident prevention reports please visit the Federal Mobility Forum’s website.