Verkehrsgerichtstag sets guardrails for greater road safety

From driver education to accident statistics: The resolutions of the Verkehrsgerichtstag lay out concrete starting points for greater safety on Germany's roads. The German Road Safety Council now calls for policy implementation.

One of the VGT event venues: Kaiserpfalz Goslar. | Photo: Christoph Rieger, DVR
One of the VGT event venues: Kaiserpfalz Goslar. | Photo: Christoph Rieger, DVR

The 64th German Traffic Court Day in Goslar has come to an end. Under the guiding principle of Vision Zero, the working groups addressed central questions of traffic safety. According to the German Road Safety Council, several of the association's demands were incorporated into the recommendations of the Traffic Court Day. Now the German Road Safety Council sees Federal Minister of Transport Patrick Schnieder as well as the state governments as responsible.

In the working group on the driving license examination, the Traffic Court Day made it clear that when acquiring a driver's license, the quality of training should take precedence over cost savings. It was also recommended to introduce a nationwide reference curriculum with defined minimum training contents and learning progress assessments. In addition, the committee advocated combining in-person instruction with digital learning methods. The use of driving simulators in practical driver training should also be enabled, provided that clear training concepts and quality criteria underlie them. Furthermore, accompanied driving from age seventeen should be further developed and piloted in suitable models.

Another focus was on alcohol-impaired driving with bicycles and pedelecs. The responsible working group recommended introducing an administrative offense provision for bicycle and pedelec riders with a blood alcohol concentration of 1.1 per mille. At the same time, the Traffic Court Day called for expanding prevention work on the effects of alcohol in road traffic as well as additional resources for research and prevention by the federal government and the states.

In the working group on accident data, the Traffic Court Day agreed with the demand to make the official accident statistics more differentiated. Accordingly, potentially life-threatening injuries to road users should in the future be recorded as their own subcategory of the seriously injured, in accordance with international standards. In addition, the presentation of the accident statistics by the Federal Statistical Office should be more detailed.

The risk of accidents caused by distraction at the wheel was also a topic. The Traffic Court Day advocated stricter controls against distraction in road traffic. To avoid differing regulations across the states, the body recommended a nationwide uniform legal framework for the use of technical control systems against cellphone use at the wheel. In addition, the Traffic Court Day called for further research to better gauge the extent of distraction in motor vehicle, cycling, and pedestrian traffic. Vehicle manufacturers were urged to make the operation of their systems as intuitive as possible. (Source: German Road Safety Council)

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