© dpa
After several years of the coronavirus pandemic and with Berlin continuing to grow as a city of almost 3.9 million inhabitants, the number of road accidents has also risen slightly.
Regarding last year's accident statistics, Police Commissioner Barbara Slowik said on Monday that normality was returning to Berlin's traffic situation after the coronavirus pandemic. "We are seeing increases compared to 2021 and 2022, but are still well below the figures of the pre-pandemic years."
The police recorded 134,136 traffic accidents last year. That was an average of one accident every four minutes. In most cases, there was only material damage (120,407 accidents). People were injured in 13,729 accidents. According to the figures, the most common reasons for accidents were mistakes when turning, failing to give way, speeding and the influence of alcohol. Before the coronavirus pandemic, there were 147,306 accidents with 17,809 injuries in 2019. Almost 1.6 million cars, trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles are registered in Berlin.
16,245 people were injured in traffic accidents. Of these, 2073 cases of injury were so serious that the persons had to be hospitalized. 33 people died in road traffic accidents - the lowest number for decades. In relation to the population, this is the lowest figure of all the federal states in Germany. The fatalities included many pensioners, cyclists and pedestrians - and no children. In 21 of these accidents, the fatalities were reportedly mainly responsible for the accident due to their behavior, for example because they were walking carelessly on the road.
The police recorded 593 so-called illegal car races in 2023. In 262 cases, the drivers fled from the police. 170 cases involved classic races between two drivers. In 161 cases, someone raced through the city alone. The roads with the most frequent races were the city highway, Landsberger Allee and Nonnendammallee.
Almost 3.7 million violations were registered as administrative offenses, a large proportion of which were parking violations. Running a red light was penalized in just under 45,000 cases. There were 16,400 cases of cell phone use at the wheel. The police recorded 6500 violations when turning. In addition, there were almost 26,000 criminal charges, mainly for driving without a license (10,387) and under the influence of alcohol or drugs (2,456). 33,000 hit-and-runs were recorded.
According to police vice-president Marco Langner, another problem in the future will be the growing number of elderly people among drivers and cyclists. "These people also want to be mobile. They also cycle more, they ride e-bikes." The group of senior citizens in road traffic will continue to occupy the police in many different ways. Seniors aged 65 and over were involved in around 16,300 accidents in 2023.
Following the upcoming legalization of cannabis in April, the Berlin police want to pay special attention to the issue. "We will notice it in our checks. We may also notice it in the number of accidents," said Langner. "It will take some time for this to be reflected." Only then will it be possible to draw conclusions about the extent of the problem. "And then we wil have to see how to reach," said Langner, But one thing is clear: "There is a lot of educational work to be done, and that includes those in favor of legalization."