statistics from 2018, unlimited highways in Germany claimed about 71% of fatalities on highways. However, autobahns without speed limits also account for 70% of the entire autobahn network, which puts the high proportion of collision fatalities on stretches without speed limits into perspective. The often resulting thinking that speed limits would not make roads significantly safer, however, is a fallacy, since it is precisely those roads that have a high volume of traffic and thus a high risk of collisions that are given speed limits. According to Schlag, unsafe and older drivers, in particular, would avoid the autobahn because they perceive the high-speed differentials and very fast drivers as scary, and instead congregate on rural roads where the risk of collisions is higher anyway. In contrast to other road types, where the number of collisions has continuously decreased, the number of collisions on autobahns has remained relatively stable or even increased for several years since 2009. According to a report by the Federal Statistical Office, fast driving is the main cause of collisions on autobahns. According to the 2018 edition of the European Road Safety Observatory's Traffic Safety Basic Facts report, an above-average number of accidents end in fatalities on a 1000-kilometer stretch of highway in Germany compared to other EU countries. Although Germany has a very low total traffic-related death rate, if only the mortality rate on highways is considered, Germany is in the rear midfield in a Europe-wide comparison of the number of traffic fatalities per thousand kilometers driven on highways in 2016. An evaluation by the shows that in 2016 statistically 26% fewer people died on autobahns with a speed limit per kilometer than on autobahns without. A similar trend could be observed in the number of serious injuries. Between 1970 and 2010, overall German road fatalities decreased by almost 80% from 19,193 to 3,648; over the same time period, autobahn deaths halved from 945 to 430 deaths. Statistics for 2013 show total German traffic deaths had declined to the lowest count ever recorded: 3,340 (428 on autobahns); a representative of the Federal Statistical Office attributed the general decline to harsh winter weather that delayed the start of the motorcycle-riding season. In 2014, there was a total of 3,377 road fatalities, while autobahn deaths dropped to 375. * per 1,000,000,000 travel-kilometres In 2012, the leading cause of autobahn accidents was "excessive speed (for conditions)": 6,587 so-called "speed