Wiesbaden, Germany - As cars become safer, Germany's road toll this year is set to sink to its lowest level since cars came into widespread use early in the 20th century, statistics Friday showed.

Using data for the year so far, government statisticians estimate 4,800 people will be killed this year in German car accidents.

The German road toll peaked at 21,000 four decades ago in 1970, but even back in the 1930s the toll was higher than today. In 1938, there were 7,354 road deaths, although Germany then did cover a larger territory than now.

In the days when motorists did not wear seat belts, and the steering columns and dashboards of cars often caused fatal wounds to occupants, there used to be constant carnage on roads, even in low-speed crashes.

Experts at the Office in Wiesbaden said both cars and roads are engineered for better safety today, and ambulances and doctors are better equipped to save lives.

They estimate 407,000 people will be injured on German roads this year but survive, 6 per cent down from last year.

The Federal Statistics Office said this year's estimate marks a fall of 7 per cent compared to 2007 and is the lowest toll in the continuous series of statistics which has been compiled since 1953.

Before that date, the statistics are only intermittent. The earliest full-year toll for Germany dates from 1907, when 145 people were killed in motor accidents. Only 27,026 vehicles were on the road at the time, before cars became cheap enough for the masses.

Today, 49.3 million vehicles are registered in Germany for use, but the likelihood of being killed in a car is vastly less. (dpa)