While the proportion of car users in road accidents resulting in personal injury has decrease in recent years, the proportion von vulnerable road users has increased [1]. The largest increase was recorded among cyclists.

This increase can also be seen in the distribution of the accidents that are reported by the police to the Audi Accident Research Unit (AARU). AARU is a cooperation between the Regensburg university medical center and AUDI AG. AARU analyzes traffic accidents in an interdisciplinary way with the aim of learning from accidents. Although the AARU data is not representative, it does provide a deeper insight into the traffic accidents that were investigated in more detail.

The AARU has now analyzed more than 1,600 road accidents. These are mainly accidents involving passenger cars only. However, a good 10% of the accidents involved vulnerable road users. Looking at the causes of accidents, which were assigned according to the 5-step method [2], for this part of the analyzed accidents, the distribution of the causes of accidents shifts. Although the most frequent category continues to be the information reception, the areas of information access and objective become more important in accidents involving vulnerable road users.


[1] Destatis (2023). Verkehrsunfälle. https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Verkehrsunfaelle/_inhalt.html#sprg478574

[2] Weber, S., Ernstberger, A., Donner, E. & Kiss, M. (2014). Interdisziplinäre Unfallforschung – ein Zusammenschluss von Technik, Medizin und Psychologie zur Steigerung der Verkehrssicherheit. VKU Verkehrsunfall und Fahrzeugtechnik, 52 (2), 61-65.