Strengthening rabies prevention efforts at the Blitzmarathon: intensified checkpoints for transport
Germany's Speedweek: A Nationwide Focus on Road Safety
Germany is gearing up for its annual Speedweek or Blitzermarathon event, a nationwide initiative aimed at enhancing road safety. This intensive week-long campaign, taking place in April and August, sees police forces ramping up speed monitoring efforts on highways, federal roads, and inner-city streets.
The primary focus of Speedweek is on accident-prone roads and areas with increased safety concerns, such as near schools, construction sites, kindergartens, nursing homes, and hospitals. The goal is to remind drivers to adhere to speed limits and thereby reduce speeding-related accidents.
This year, states such as Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein are actively participating in the event. Bavaria, for instance, will deploy around 1,800 measuring sites with 2,000 police officers involved. Other states like Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt, and Schleswig-Holstein will also be participating.
The European Roads Policing Network supports this initiative, coordinating the Roadpol speed control week across Europe. This year's Roadpol speed control week runs from August 4th to August 10th. During Speedweek, controls will be more frequent on accident-prone sections of roads and areas with a high risk of danger.
The purpose of Speedweek is multifaceted. It serves as a deterrent against speeding and a public reminder about the importance of adjusting speed according to the environment, aiming to protect all road users, especially vulnerable groups. The attention drawn to the ongoing issue and the dangers of speeding is an additional objective of the Speedweek.
Intensified speed controls are an effective means of combating speeding and sensitizing road users to traffic safety, according to Saxony-Anhalt's Minister of the Interior, Tamara Zieschang. For years, driving too fast has been the number one cause of fatal traffic accidents in Baden-Württemberg.
While most federal states participate in Speedweek, not all provide advance information about the locations of the controls. This is to ensure that drivers do not adjust their behaviour in anticipation of the controls.
Speedweek is just one part of Germany's ongoing efforts to improve road safety. The causal links between control pressure, penalty severity, and behavioural change have been scientifically proven, making Speedweek a valuable tool in the fight against speeding. The event serves as a reminder that every driver has a responsibility to ensure the safety of all road users.
In the context of Germany's Speedweek, the European Roads Polforming Network supports a coordinated speed control week across various industries, including finance and transportation, to combat speeding. Other states like Baden-Württemberg, with speeding being the number one cause of fatal traffic accidents, are actively participating in this event.
