It crashes less often on empty streets: In 2020, the corona lockdown and home office not only had an impact on the volume of traffic, but also on the number of accidents.
The number of accidents with fatalities and injuries that happened under the influence of alcohol also fell to the lowest level since these statistics began in 1975, as the Federal Statistical Office reported on Tuesday.
According to the authorities, there were 13,003 accidents with personal injury in which at least one road user was under the influence of alcohol.
That was a decrease from 2019 by 6.8 percent, it said.
In total, there were around 264,000 personal injury accidents in 2020, a decrease of 11.9 percent compared to the previous year.
Despite the cancellation of major festivals and events and the partial closure of restaurants after the outbreak of the corona pandemic, the decline in accidents involving alcohol was below the overall decline in the number of accidents.
More than 30 percent fewer accident fatalities
The number of victims of alcohol accidents was significantly lower: a total of 15,647 people were injured - a decrease of 10.1 percent compared to 2019. With 156 accidental deaths, the number fell by 31.6 percent.
This means that, on average, a person was killed in an alcohol accident almost every other day.
According to the information, only 12.9 percent of those involved in accidents with personal injury were drunk.
In the total number of accidents with personal injury, the proportion of women involved is 33.7 percent.
Many of those involved in the drunkenness were also relatively young: 40.3 percent were between 18 and 34 years old.
Similar to previous years, alcohol accidents also increased in the Corona year on weekends and before public holidays such as New Year or Ascension Day.
However, the number of alcohol accidents fell at an above-average rate in November and December 2020.
During this period, when the lockdown resulted in numerous restrictions including the cancellation of Christmas parties and markets, the number of total alcohol accidents decreased by 31.8 percent compared to 2019.