The corona pandemic is expected to cause another low in fatal traffic accidents in Germany.
According to an estimate by the Federal Statistical Office, the number of fatalities in road traffic in 2021 is likely to decrease by around ten percent to 2,450.
That would be the lowest level since the statistics began more than 65 years ago, as the Federal Office in Wiesbaden announced on Tuesday.
The data available to date for the period from January to September 2021 form the basis for the estimate.
The numbers would be below the previous low from last year of 2,719 road deaths.
"The declines are largely due to the significantly lower traffic volume compared to 2019 as a result of the corona pandemic," said the Federal Office.
According to the estimate, a significant decrease compared to the previous year is also to be expected in the number of injuries.
The Federal Office assumes around 301,000 injuries, that would be eight percent less.
At the same time, the statisticians emphasize that an average of seven people continue to die in traffic accidents and more than 800 people are injured every day.
The number of accidents recorded by the police is estimated to decrease slightly by around one percent compared to the previous year by the end of the year: a total of more than 2.2 million accidents on Germany's roads is expected.
According to an estimate, these include 244,000 accidents in which people were injured or killed - this would be a decrease of around eight percent.
In almost two million accidents, there would be property damage, the Federal Office expects a very slight decrease compared to 2020.