Overview
- North Rhine-Westphalia’s consumer protection agency warned the time change will increase crashes with wild animals and urged extra caution on roads by forests and fields.
- ADAC Hessen-Thüringen and the hunting association note risk peaks between 6–9 a.m. and around late afternoon after the switch, with Zwickau police saying about two-thirds of such crashes occur in twilight and roughly 1,500 happen yearly in the Zwickau/Vogtland area.
- Safety advice stresses slowing down, keeping distance, braking firmly in a straight line, dimming high beams, using the horn, and watching for trailing animals, while avoiding dangerous swerves.
- Insurers estimate roughly 300,000 wildlife collisions annually nationwide—about one every two minutes for comprehensively insured cars—with Hesse recording nearly 5,600 deer, roe deer and wild boar killed on roads from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025.
- After a collision drivers should secure the scene, stay away from injured animals, report to police for hunter follow-up and an accident certificate, avoid removing carcasses, and consider logging incidents in the Tierfund‑Kataster or using the Wildwarner app.