"One of the worst road fatality rates in Europe" -- that's not really accurate; even a quick glance at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic

"One of the worst road fatality rates in Europe" -- that's not really accurate; even a quick glance at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-re..., assuming the accuracy of the numbers, indicates that Germany is among the safest from this viewpoint. Only Sweden, the UK, Iceland, the Netherlands, Malta, and San Marino are better (and the last two probably aren't statistically significant). France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway, Finland, ... -- almost every country in Europe is less safe than Germany.