The high number of cycling deaths goes against the general trend when it comes to road accidents. The Federal Statistics Office recorded a historic low in road fatalities in Germany in the first half of the year. According to figures published on Friday, 1,281 people died on Germany’s roads, 13.2 per cent fewer than in the same period last year.“Not since German unification in 1990 have fewer people been killed or injured in road accidents between January and June,” officials announced, attributing the decrease to the corona pandemic.Lower traffic volume had a significant impact on the number of accidents, the office said on Friday. Due to the lockdown and people working from home, fewer were out on the roads.Cyclists, however, are not benefiting, said Siegfried Brockmann, head of accident research at the German Insurance Association, an industry group that represents 460 private insurance companies. He estimates that there are now almost as many cars on the roads again as there were before the virus.But he said a lot of people were switching to cars and bicycles out of fear of infection, leading to lower passenger numbers on public transport.

Bike traffic up 25% thanks to corona

Speaking to the Berliner Zeitung, Brockmann cited two reasons for the increase in the number of bike accidents. First, cycle traffic has grown by 25 per cent over the same period last year. In June alone, Berlin’s transport department recorded 2.3 million cyclists over its monitoring stations.According to the accident researcher, however, there is another reason for the increase in deaths: “In Berlin, the cycling associations and the Senat are encouraging faster cycling. Wider lanes and more protected cycle lanes result in higher speeds,” says Brockmann.He said the main problem were intersections, for which there were no solutions as of yet. According to Brockmann, the problem is not the speed of cars, but the speed of cyclists. “Developing cycle paths does not necessarily mean improved safety,” says Brockmann.