Road safety is the subject of intense debate among the public, politicians and the specialist departments of the city administration. Both the improvement of objective, actual road safety and the subjective perception of safety are discussed and extensive demands for further measures are formulated. The aim is therefore to make mobility in Aachen safer by drawing up, designing and implementing the road safety action plan. Special attention is paid to vulnerable road users, as they are significantly more affected in terms of the severity and consequences of accidents.
Road safety action plan
The "Road Safety Action Plan" is the City of Aachen's framework concept, with the help of which structured and intensive work is being carried out to increase subjective and objective road safety on Aachen's roads.
Back in 2017, the Board of Directors commissioned the specialist administration to develop a concept for an action plan to improve road safety. The aim was to improve both objective, actual road safety and the subjective perception of safety. On August 1, 2018, the implementation of the action plan began with the appointment of the staff position.
Traffic accidents in Aachen
Every year, the police publish traffic accident statistics for the StädteRegion Aachen area. The last one was published for the year 2023. The accident statistics for recent years with the data for each individual municipality can be found at Traffic accident statistics | Aachen police.
In 2023, there was one accident with fatalities in Aachen (-3 compared to 2022). There were 142 accidents with serious injuries (-8) and 1,022 accidents with minor injuries (+61). The number of pedestrian accidents increased by +10 to 154 and the number of cyclist and pedelec accidents increased by +17 to 467. By comparison, there was an average of 140 accidents with serious injuries between 2009 and 2011 and an average of 118 accidents between 2018 and 2020. This corresponds to a reduction of 16%.
In the Mobility Vision 2050, it was formulated as a goal for the city of Aachen that there should be as few fatalities and injuries as possible in traffic in Aachen. In the Mobility Strategy 2030, the figure of 97 for the number of serious injuries (starting from 118) was rated as a medium improvement; a reduction to fewer than 85 serious injuries was rated as a strong improvement. The current accident figures thus show a deterioration in the situation and reveal a very great need for action in the area of road safety.
Identification and elimination of accident blackspots
Why and how are investigations carried out?
A specially formed accident commission systematically investigates all accidents that occur in the city of Aachen with the aim of increasing the road safety of all road users and thus preventing traffic accidents. In the run-up to the respective meetings, the police use the accident data available to them, i.e. the "reported" accident data, to identify potential accident blackspots.
For this purpose, so-called "accident blackspots" are formed from all accidents in the city of Aachen. These are road sections or intersections where several similar accidents ("accident type") occur within a year. The number of accidents at which an accident is considered an accident blackspot depends on the type of accident.
In addition, all locations where there was at least one accident with a slightly injured pedestrian or cyclist in the course of three years are considered, regardless of the type of accident.
What happens to the identified accident blackspots?
The effectiveness of the agreed and implemented measures is reviewed annually. Depending on the respective development, a previous year's accident site is also discussed again. Accident blackspots that remain unremarkable after the implementation of a measure in the follow-up period (1 year) are closed.
Current accident blackspots
In August 2024, there were 52 so-called open accident blackspots within the city of Aachen. These are places where there is a need for action or where the situation is still being monitored. These include active accident blackspots, those within the follow-up period and those where the follow-up period has not yet begun due to the pending implementation of the agreed measures.
The last meeting of the accident commission took place on 28.08.2024. The situation at 14 locations was specifically discussed there. The public was informed about the measures by means of a publicly accessible council document. ALLRIS template.
The meeting of the Accident Commission on 30.03.2023, in which 7 positions were discussed, was also reported on in a submission: ALLRIS template
The legal basis for the accident commission:
An accident commission in NRW is responsible for constantly monitoring the development of traffic accidents, evaluating the traffic accident situation, discussing and deciding on measures to improve road safety and informing the public. It is also involved in determining stationary speed measuring points. This is laid down in a decree dated June 10, 2021.
Background knowledge
CONORCROWE, © City of Aachen / Conor Crowe
Speed checks
Exceeding the speed limit is a frequent cause of accidents. In places where an increased risk situation has been identified, the City of Aachen's public order office may therefore also monitor speeds. Here you can find out where speed limits were measured last month and how many drivers were prosecuted.