There are countless end-of-year rituals.
One of them is updating the traffic accident statistics.
And that's never a reason to celebrate.
Every death is one too many.
The fact that the number of fatalities according to estimates by the Federal Statistical Office for 2022 will increase by around nine percent to around 2790 is initially frightening, but is simply due to the Corona years.
Much less was driven in 2020 and 2021, but 2719 and 2562 people still lost their lives.
In 2019, without the influence of Corona, there were 3046 victims.
If you compare 2022 with 2019, you will see that the number is falling, but general road safety has increased again.
A great deal has been achieved since the horror year of 1972, when an unimaginable 20,100 people died on the streets of Germany today.
This success has many fathers.
Some of the rules are stricter, so up until 1973 it was still possible to drive a car with 1.3 per mille without penalty, today you are absolutely unfit to drive, another fact that looks incredible in retrospect.
By the way: In the GDR it was always 0.0.
Seat belts became compulsory in 1976, and motorcyclists were required to wear helmets in the same year, both important building blocks for more safety.
And of course the passive and active safety of a new car cannot be compared to that of a 1970 vehicle.
This may be the main reason for the drop in numbers, especially as traffic and the number of cars and other motor vehicles continues to grow.
In 2022, more than three times as many cars will be on the road as there were 50 years ago, and the volume of traffic will be correspondingly higher.
One can be proud of what has been achieved, even if the goal must remain to further reduce the number of deaths.