Report of the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden Quote: Number of traffic fatalities at a historical low The number of traffic fatalities fell to a historical low last year. According to the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden, 5094 people died in 2006 on Germany’s roads. This is the lowest number since the re-introduction of road accident statistics in 1953. This continued the downward trend in recent years: compared to 2005 The number of fatalities fell by another five per cent. However, in 2006 on average 14 people still lost their lives in road traffic. In 2006 there were quite different developments in the individual federal states: Statisticians in Hamburg recorded the most significant percentage decline, where the number of fatalities fell by more than one third to 28. North Rhine-Westphalia recorded the second highest percentage decline. In contrast, there was an increase of 16 per cent in Schleswig-Holstein, 10 per cent in Berlin and Thuringia, 7.7 per cent in Baden-Württemberg and 3.8 per cent in Hesse. In Lower Saxony there were 13 per cent fewer accident deaths and 11 per cent less in Saxony-Anhalt. In terms of population, the federal average in 2006 was 62 traffic deaths per million inhabitants. As the Federal Office explained, Hamburg, Berlin and Bremen lost considerably fewer people in road traffic accidents. The figures in East Germany, especially Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg, were still well above the average. However, compared to the peak in 1991, they fell to about one third.