Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) wants more protection for cyclists and pedestrians in road traffic. When asked by the German Press Agency, Scheuer said: “We are not only working on a new road safety program, we are also investing massively in research into automated and networked driving.” Technical progress in infrastructure and vehicles means active accident prevention. Vehicles should be able to communicate with each other or with the surrounding infrastructure in order to detect and avoid accident situations at an early stage.

Still many traffic fatalities In the Federal Cabinet the “Accident Prevention Report Road Traffic 2018 / 2019 “be topic. Scheuer said the report shows that road safety measures are effective. But every traffic fatality is one too many. “Above all, we want even more protection for cyclists and pedestrians.”

According to the report, the federal government will achieve its goal of reducing the number of road deaths by 2020 in all probability miss. In the road safety program 2011 the aim was to reduce the number of road deaths by 2020 by 40 percent. According to the report, this goal will not be achieved. Nevertheless, the reduction in the number of fatalities by Percent, not least against the background of increasing traffic volumes, a “considerable success”.

Pact for Road Safety The Ministry of Transport is working on the next road safety program for the period 2021 to 2030, was called it. Cities and municipalities are particularly important when it comes to more protection for pedestrians and cyclists, for example. That is why the “Pact for Road Safety” was concluded.

Germany wants to take on an international leadership role in autonomous driving. A new law is intended to create a legal framework that allows autonomous vehicles to drive on public roads in regular operation. The ministry’s draft bill is currently being coordinated by departments. According to the Ministry, the law is to be passed in the current legislative period.

2019, according to the Federal Statistical Office, the number was the number of traffic fatalities in 3046 people – that was an all-time low. 2011 still 4009 people perished in traffic. The figures for 2020 are not yet available. There were significantly fewer road fatalities in the first half of the year, but this was also due to the lower volume of traffic due to the corona pandemic.

The transport policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Oliver Luksic, told the German press agency about the new one Report: “Despite the generally increasing volume of traffic, the trend is heading in the right direction. Now it is important to reduce the numbers even further. The pedelecs in particular should be the focus. We have to focus consistently on the opportunities offered by automation and digitization, this offers great opportunities Potential for more road safety. ” Better vehicle technology will result in fewer accidents, and automated or autonomous driving offers exciting prospects.

The accident prevention report is drawn up every two years and presented to the German Bundestag. It gives an overview and overview of the road safety policy on national and international level.

(olb)