The average number of passengers per car was higher in the years before unification than it was in the two years after.

After unification, many people who had been living in East Germany relocated to West Germany.

After unification, a smaller proportion of the cars being purchased by East German residents were used vehicles.

Drivers who had driven little or not at all before 1989 accounted for much of the increase in the total distance traveled by cars.

Over the same two-year period in East Germany, other road users, such as motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians, experienced only small increases in traffic fatalities.