Key data on the project:

Client: Accident Research of Insurers in the German Insurance Association.

Duration: 07/2021 to 12/2023

Project manager/responsible persons: Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Gerlach, Dipl.-Ing. Tanja Leven, M.Sc. Marius Balke

Brief description of the project:

In 2020, 426 cyclists were killed in road traffic in Germany, about 40% (172 cyclists) of them out of town. Also, slightly more than one in five seriously injured cyclists was registered outside built-up areas (22 %, 3,806 of a total of 17,084 Germany-wide). The accident figures have been stagnating at this level for years. While a large number of analyses and studies of measures to improve the safety of cycling have been carried out for inner-city areas, there are so far only few findings on accidents involving cyclists on roads outside built-up areas. Therefore, the Insurers Accident Research (UDV) initiated this study in cooperation with the Department of Road Traffic Planning and Engineering with the aim to generate comprehensive findings regarding the current accident occurrence of cyclists on rural roads and to develop corresponding indications and recommendations for improving the road safety of cyclists in rural road areas, especially for accidents with severe personal injury involving cyclists. On the basis of a comprehensive analysis of accidents involving cyclists who were killed, and in some cases seriously injured, detailed findings are to be determined with regard to the composition of these accidents and their consequences, as well as the special features of the locations where these accidents occur. Based on this, correlations are to be derived, which will be analyzed in the context of inventory audits and measures for improving the safety of cyclists on rural roads will be proposed, which can be incorporated into the revision of the regulations.