BERLIN, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Germany, whose roads are generally considered to be among Europe's safest, saw 257 people killed in traffic accidents in April in 2018, a 10 percent rise compared to the same period last year.
According to a press release of the Wiesbaden-based government agency, Federal Statistical Office, during the same period, the number of individuals injured in traffic accidents also rose by 16.1 percent to around 33,800.
A recent experiment by German police has raised questions over the extent to which the country's motorists are willing to offer assistance when accidents do happen.
Police in the state of Brandenburg joined forces with a local media agency to stage a fake road accident with two blood-stained actors trapped in an overturned vehicle. The objective of the experiment was to see how many motorists would rush to the scene to help.
The officers were shocked to find that 90 percent of traffic simply passed by the accident site without stopping. Hidden cameras were installed on the scene and some drivers who refused to help were subsequently questioned by police over their motives.
"Many drivers could not explain why they hadn't stopped and helped," the responsible police commissioner Robert Mueller told the newspaper "Maerkische Allgemeine" after the experiment.
Mueller stressed the importance of citizens delivering first aid in response to traffic accident as a means to lower the count of fatalities in Germany.
Thomas Puls, expert for traffic at the German Economic Institute (IW), told Xinhua that the consequences of accidents are no longer as bad thanks to better occupant protection and rescue services.
"The next step is active safety systems that make accidents less likely. In other words, brake assistants, lane keeping assistants and ultimately autonomous driving."
