As of: 09/20/2021 10:44 a.m.
The corona pandemic also has positive consequences: Last year, fewer girls and boys had accidents on the streets than ever since German reunification in 1990.
Around 22,500 children were injured in road accidents last year – an all-time low, according to the Federal Statistical Office. The main reason was the low volume of traffic due to the corona. But the temporary closure of schools and many leisure facilities had a particularly strong impact on the number of traffic accidents with children.
In 2020, a child was injured or killed in a traffic accident on average every 23 minutes. But the number of children under 15 who had an accident was almost 20 percent lower than in 2019. It fell more than the number of accident victims as a whole, which had fallen by 15 percent. From May to July the number rose again, but according to the authority it was still well below the level of the previous months. Of the 22,500 children who were injured in road accidents, 48 were killed.
Most of the casualties were on bicycles
The expert in traffic accident statistics Stefanie Rink explained: “We know that 6 to 14 year olds have accidents between 7 and 8 a.m. and between 1 and 2 p.m. compared to other times in road traffic.” Those are the times when they are usually on the way to school or back. Even in their free time in the afternoon, children are usually particularly at risk in road traffic.
According to statistics, 41 percent of children who had road accidents in 2020 were on their bikes. Almost 33 percent were sitting in a car and 21 percent were walking when the accident happened. Overall, however, compared to their proportion of the population, children have a lower risk of accidents than other age groups.