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Danger zone: E-bike riders in the city
Photo: iStockphoto / Getty Images
After a record in the previous year, the number of bicycle accidents in Germany fell slightly again in 2023. As the Federal Statistical Office announced on Wednesday, 94,050 accidents with personal injuries were reported, 3.8 percent fewer than in the previous year. 444 cyclists died in traffic. This means that mathematically more than one person had an accident per day, but it was fewer than the 474 fatalities counted in 2022.
Pedestrians were hit much more often than before. Around 28,000 of them were seriously injured and 432 were killed - an increase of 17.4 percent.
The number of e-scooter riders killed even doubled to 20 people. 8,300 people riding the electrically powered stand-up scooters were seriously injured, twelve percent more than in the previous year.
A closer look at bicycle accidents also shows a growing proportion of crashes involving electrified vehicles. While people on non-motorized bicycles had accidents significantly less often than before, the number of accidents with e-bikes increased. Anyone who had an accident with such a bicycle with an electric auxiliary motor (officially known as a Pedelec when it supports up to 25 km/h) was twice as likely to die as in an accident with a non-motorized bicycle.
Germany is falling behind when it comes to secure infrastructure
In view of the number of accidents, the TÜV association called for more police presence, but above all an accelerated expansion of the two-wheeler infrastructure. “The federal government, states and municipalities must pay much more attention to weaker road users,” explained Richard Goebelt, head of the vehicle and mobility department. In metropolitan areas in particular, in addition to normal bicycles, there are more and more e-bikes, cargo bikes and scooters on the road, which require more road space for greater safety. Germany was falling behind internationally, criticized Goebelt. European cities such as Paris, Copenhagen, Utrecht, London and Barcelona showed that everyone benefits from more clearly structured paths, streets and intersections. “The safety of drivers also increases,” says Goebelt.
According to statisticians, more than ten times as many people had accidents on e-bikes than ten years ago. However, this does not necessarily reflect an increased risk of a single e-bike ride, but rather the growing popularity of electrically assisted driving. According to the two-wheeler industry association, e-bikes made up the majority of all bicycles sold for the first time last year. According to the Federal Statistical Office, in 2022 there was at least one Pedelec in 15.5 percent of private households in Germany; in 2014 it was 3.4 percent of households.
The average age of the victims also fell significantly during this time, probably because e-bikes are becoming more widespread among younger people. In 2023, almost one in three people who had an accident on an e-bike were under 45 years old, compared to around ten percent in 2014. However, the average age of 53 years is still higher than that of accident victims with non-motorized bicycles (42 years).
According to the Federal Statistical Office, this – in addition to the speed or weight of the vehicles – also explains the higher proportion of fatal accidents. Older people are generally more likely to be seriously or fatally injured in a fall than younger people. In order to be able to estimate how dangerous a means of transport is overall, one would have to compare the number of accidents with the distance traveled. However, this is not regularly recorded statistically for bicycles.
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