Big jump in German road deaths in April

Wiesbaden, Germany - Some 478 persons were killed on Germany's roads in April, a jump of 21 per cent from the same month in 2006, the Federal Statistics Office said Thursday.

The number of injured rose by 33 per cent to 40,100, the statistics office said.

The office attributed the increase to unseasonally warm weather which brought motorcyclists on the roads earlier than usual and prompted people to drive more.

Police registered a total of 722,800 accidents in the first four months of the year, an increase of 2 per cent over the corresponding month of 2006.

A total of 1,515 persons were killed in accidents between January and April, 10 per cent more than the same period a year ago.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur