Statistics released on Friday by the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis) showed that 1,593 people died on German roads in the first half of the year, 22 more than in 2014.
The figure had already risen in 2014, with 3,368 traffic deaths recorded over the whole year – 29 more than in 2013.
“If this continues, the [government's] goal won't be reached” of reducing the number of deaths by 40 percent between 2011 and 2020, said Siegfried Brockmann, an accident researcher for insurance companies.
Past years had seen the death toll fall on the roads despite regular increases in the number of people driving.
The 2013 figure was the lowest since regular record-keeping began in the 1950s, at 3,339.
Room for improvement
Brockmann suggested that the best places to make improvements to road safety were inside cities, saying that it should be easier for older people to cross the street near important locations like parks and doctors' offices.
Of those who lost their lives on the roads in the first five months of 2015, 365 were more than 65 years old, Destatis said – or almost one in three.
Brockmann added that it was not yet clear whether distraction due to smartphones was responsible for an increased number of accidents, since the generation which uses the devices most avidly is only just arriving at legal age to drive.
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