Statement by deputy head of authority LKD Niewald at the press conference on the annual traffic accident report for 2023
"Ladies and gentlemen,
I would also like to welcome you to the announcement of the annual traffic accident report for 2023!"
The presentation of a traffic accident report is always an ambivalent event. It is important to highlight both positive and negative developments in the traffic accident situation. However, negative developments in particular remind all road users to take more responsibility on the roads. Achieving this - responsibility in road traffic - is the core of our police road safety work.
Where are we specifically!
A total of 9,242 road accidents occurred in the city, which is +2.6% more than in the previous year. The number of traffic accidents with personal injury remained roughly the same. Here, 18 more people were injured than in the previous year, a slight increase of +1.44%. The injury figures for 2023 thus remain below the pre-corona level in 2019.
The risk of Bielefeld's citizens becoming victims of a traffic accident is expressed in the accident frequency rate. The accident frequency figure for Bielefeld in 2023 is once again significantly below the state average.
A total of 2,445 traffic accidents occurred on the freeways in our area of responsibility, 176 more than in the previous year. The number of casualties rose from 405 to 471.
As a general rule, every traffic accident is one too many! Because behind every traffic accident is at least one person who has suffered damage or even painful loss. And behind every victim are fates that are directly or indirectly confronted with the suffering of those affected. These include relatives, other people involved in the accident and the emergency services at the scene. Our police road safety work is therefore based on the guiding principle of protecting the #LIFE of road users and uninvolved parties. The new specialist strategy under the motto #LIFE takes greater account of the periods before a traffic accident and after a traffic accident or traffic offense in the respective police activities. The main aim here is to consistently punish the person responsible for misconduct, but also to demonstrate the potentially drastic consequences of misconduct in a "traffic didactic" (explanatory) conversation.
This makes our prevention work, such as our children's traffic education with the puppet stage, our vacation traffic days or our crash courses, all the more important.
Everyone is initially responsible for their own safety on the roads. All too often we assume: Will be fine and are not as attentive as we need to be. Not paying attention just once can be one time too many. It can happen to all of us, every day!
As police, we want you, your children and your loved ones to get home safely. As we saw in the intro video, we as the NRW police want to use the hashtag #LIFE to focus on our most valuable asset: life. That is why we are focusing our prevention work on making you all aware of the dangers of road traffic and thus protecting you. In this way, we help to prevent great suffering. For those affected, their families, relatives and friends.
With a view to #LIFE, I unfortunately have to announce a negative and depressing development right at the beginning. A total of 9 people were killed in traffic accidents in the city of Bielefeld in 2023. The last time there was a higher figure was 6 years ago. Nevertheless, there were no children among the fatalities this year either. 55% of those killed were traveling on foot or by bicycle and therefore had no crumple zone, no airbag and no passive protective equipment in their vehicles.
In the context of the mobility transition, it is precisely these unprotected forms of mobility in road traffic that will increase. The Bielefeld police are strategically countering such negative developments with a corresponding concept to reduce the number of accidents.
The measures listed in this concept range
- from preventive actions by the traffic accident prevention/victim protection police department,
- to traffic action days,
- recurring focus operations,
- press and public relations work to networking and cooperation with external partners.
The ambivalence I mentioned at the beginning becomes clear when I can tell you about a positive development with regard to road fatalities. The number of road traffic fatalities on the freeways in the jurisdiction of the Bielefeld police has halved. Nevertheless, 3 people were killed in road accidents here. This is 3 people too many, but still a positive development towards our vision of zero fatalities and injuries in road traffic.
In general, we have not had to record new highs in any individual area. Nevertheless, the total number of all traffic accidents rose slightly compared to the previous year, both in the urban area and on the highway sections. This was mainly due to traffic accidents with material damage. The number of serious injuries fell in the urban area - never before since data collection began have there been fewer serious injuries here. On the highways, on the other hand, the number of serious injuries rose by +9. As you can see, despite the positive figures, the situation remains ambivalent.
Christian Lübke from the Traffic Directorate will then present and explain the details of accident trends in relation to target groups and traffic types.
Figures on developments in the urban area:
A total of 9,242 traffic accidents occurred in the urban area, which is +2.6% more than in the previous year. The number of road accidents with personal injury remained roughly the same. Here, 18 more people were injured than in the previous year, a slight increase
of +1.44%. The injury figures for 2023 thus remain below the pre-corona level in 2019.
The risk of Bielefeld's citizens becoming victims of a traffic accident is expressed in the accident frequency rate. Here, the accident rate of all target groups is calculated in relation to the number of inhabitants.
The accident rate for Bielefeld in 2023 is once again well below the state average. The target groups with an increased risk of road accidents include children, young people, young adults and senior citizens. No children - from infants to 14-year-olds - were killed in road traffic accidents. Fewer children were seriously injured in road traffic accidents. The number of children with minor injuries in road accidents rose to 106.
The number of young people injured also fell. This includes people between the ages of 15 and 17. No young people were killed in road accidents. The number of seriously injured young people remained the same (9), while the number of young people with minor injuries fell to 44.
With regard to the type of traffic involvement of young people, it is noticeable that only young people riding motorized two-wheelers have seen an increase in the number of injuries. This type of traffic involvement is characterized by fun and joie de vivre. However, it is important not to lose sight of responsibility. The "Crash Course NRW" events, which will be resumed in 2023 after the coronavirus break, will leave a lasting impression on young people. They are an indispensable building block on the way to taking responsibility in road traffic. We are taking the increasing number of cases as an opportunity to stick to the path we have already taken and to expand the quality and quantity of the "Crash Course NRW" events.
This is also in line with the strategic approaches to road safety work that have been coordinated across the state and specified by the Ministry of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia. Crash Kurs NRW is known as a successful model beyond the borders of the authorities and the state and is at the heart of the strategic concepts for road accident prevention - both in Bielefeld and in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The number of injured young adults, i.e. people between the ages of 18 and 24, rose by +10.5% overall. Even though the accident frequency rate rose accordingly, the risk of being injured in a traffic accident as a young adult in Bielefeld is still lower than the state average.
In addition to maintaining a high and comprehensive control pressure in traffic monitoring and traffic accident prevention campaigns at secondary educational institutions, traffic accident prevention contributions are published in cooperation with the press and public relations department in social media channels such as Instagram in a target group-oriented manner. A new feature in this context is the Bielefeld police's own WhatsApp channel. The messages of these posts are aimed at encouraging people to behave in accordance with the rules on the road and thus to live up to their responsibility on the road. The central feature is the hashtag #LEBEN.
The target group of senior citizens includes people aged 65 and over. In 2023, fewer senior citizens were involved in road traffic accidents in Bielefeld. A total of 137 senior citizens were injured in Bielefeld, a decrease of -7.4%. It is particularly pleasing to note that the overall figures for senior citizens as so-called vulnerable road users, i.e. pedestrians, cyclists and pedelec riders, have fallen. This was one of the main focuses of the traffic police's prevention work last year.
Senior citizens were informed, for example, as part of the "Safety through visibility" campaign at information stands and visits to senior citizens' centers. In addition, targeted pedelec training courses for the 65+ target group were offered together with the cooperation partners Verkehrswacht, ADFC and Volkshochschule. In addition to the topics of riding technique and vehicle technology, the focus was also on providing information about the German Road Traffic Regulations for cyclists and pedelec riders.
Specific campaigns and courses for cyclists in other age groups were also held in line with the senior citizens group - from comprehensive cycling training in the fourth grade of primary school to the training of bicycle scouts and educational talks with road safety advisors on site at accident blackspots.
These diverse measures correspond to the overall decline in the number of cyclists injured. A total of 238 people were injured in road accidents in 2023, 46 fewer than in the previous year.
The number of cases of pedelec riders has risen since data collection began in 2014. In 2023, the number of injured pedelec riders rose by +14 to 124, including 30 senior citizens and 87 adults (24 - 64 years).
After a significant increase in the previous year, a slight decline can be seen in the target group of pedestrians in 2023. This applies to all age groups. However, the main cause of accidents, "Incorrect behavior towards pedestrians", remained consistently high.
A total of 58 fewer people were injured on e-scooters than in the previous year. In addition to adults, it is mainly young adults who have accidents with this mode of transport. After a significant increase of over 80% in 2022, there has now been a pleasing decrease of -10.76%.
Our efforts in police road safety work are now confirmed by the falling number of cases. At the last annual press conference on the 2022 road accident report, we informed you that the drastic developments in the use of e-scooters at the time prompted us to develop specific prevention measures. This is exactly what we have done: in cooperation with e-scooter rental companies, we have been able to offer special courses in which different target groups can learn about this mode of transport and the associated traffic rules.
Not mentioned in the traffic accident report, but nevertheless of interest to you, are the developments regarding banned car racing. We can report declining figures here. After 38 criminal proceedings in this offense area most recently, a total of 25 proceedings still had to be initiated in 2023. There was a traffic accident after 10 races, a decrease of 4 races compared to 2022. This means that Bielefeld is now below the NRW state average for banned motor vehicle races.
However, it should be noted that banned motor vehicle races are dangerous for everyone - for the participants as well as for uninvolved road users. Speeding drivers act irresponsibly.
Public traffic areas and their roads are not racetracks or venues for a test of strength or for self-dramatization. Those who take part in a prohibited motor vehicle race are criminals. They will have to take responsibility for their actions in legal proceedings at the latest - but this happens too late for the accident victims involved.
This is why we carried out a variety of measures last year, including recurring focus operations - both preventive and repressive. For example, seizing cars as a means of crime may also have a deterrent effect on members of the scene. Where necessary, we will also make full use of the necessary legal framework. In view of the positive developments, we see this as confirmation of our approach.
In the fight against traffic accidents, we are also focusing on driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, as these are among the main causes of accidents (HUU). Anyone who takes part in road traffic under the influence of alcohol or drugs is acting irresponsibly. Driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol is and remains a punishable offense.
In the city of Bielefeld, 93 personal injury accidents occurred last year in which the influence of alcohol or drugs was the cause of the accident. Compared to the previous year, this number of cases of HUU alcohol and drugs represents an increase of around +72%. We see this as a mandate to focus even more strongly on road users' fitness to drive in the future.
About developments on the freeways:
A total of 2,445 road accidents occurred on the freeways in our area of responsibility, 176 more than in the previous year. The number of casualties rose from 405 to 471. The main cause of accidents resulting in personal injury continues to be speed by a wide margin. The number of cases here has more than doubled. An increase of 118% can be seen compared to the previous year. In 2023, 27,624 speeding violations were detected and penalized on the freeways, more than half of all the violations we penalized.
Three people were killed in traffic accidents on freeways, half as many as in the previous year.
Congestion accidents pose a particular potential danger on the freeway. When a vehicle collides with stationary cars at high speed, the consequences are often extremely serious. It is therefore particularly important to draw attention to traffic obstructions at an early stage. We therefore monitor the number of traffic jam accidents with fatal or serious injuries separately. The number of these cases remained constant last year at 9. In the last 6 years, the number of traffic jam accidents with particularly serious consequences has fluctuated between 6 and 15 per year.
In relation to their share of the total volume of traffic on freeways, HGV drivers were involved in road accidents with fatalities with inconspicuous frequency. The proportion fell from 42.2% to 32.1%. Fewer road accidents with personal injury were also caused by truck drivers. Here the proportion fell from 24.3 % to 13.8 %. In order to influence this positive development as sustainably as possible, we will continue to pay particular attention to compliance with social regulations such as driving and rest times, breaks in driving time, working hours and load securing with appropriately trained personnel.